Structure and phenology of carabid communities coleoptera carabidae in pine forest sites influenced by urban emissions in the grunewald forest of west berlin germany
Rink, U.
Zoologische Beiträge 33(2): 265-294
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0044-5150
Accession: 007826818
This study describes the biocenotic structure of the carabid fauna and the phenology of dominant species in four characteristic forest sites influenced by urban emissions near the conurbation of Westberlin. A pine-oak forest, a young pine forest, a part of this areal after liming, and a forest site near the highway AVUS influenced by motor car emissions was examined. The number of species, the abundance and biomass of carabids was determined as biocenotic parameters during three years. The carabid fauna of the investigated forest sites can be regarded as typical for acid soils of mixed woodlands. After liming, the number of typical and dominant carabids of this kind of forest decreases, whereas the number of staphylinids, being typical for beech forest on limestone or for eutrophicied forest sites, increases. The number of species, the abundance and the biomass of carabids in the Grunewald Forest is not reduced in comparison to forest ecosystems in West Germany, which are less influenced by air pollution. Abundance and biomass of carabids near the highway AVUS are distinctly lower than in the middle of the forest. The investigation demonstrates the difficulty to determine conclusively the influence of motor car emissions on the carabid population near the AVUS because of other different environmental conditions at this site.