Drastic changes in ground-dwelling beetle communities following high-intensity deer culling: insights from an island ecosystem.

ABSTRACT: The overabundance of large herbivores can have detrimental effects on the local environment due to overgrazing. Culling is a common management practice implemented globally that can effectively control herbivore populations and allow vegetation communities to recover. However, the broader indirect effects of culling large herbivores remain relatively unknown, particularly on insect species such as ground-dwelling beetles that perform key ecosystem processes such as decomposition. Here we undertook a preliminary investigation to determine how culling sika deer on an island in North Japan impacted ground-beetle community dynamics. We conducted pitfall trapping in July and September in 2012 (before culling) and again in 2019 (after culling). We compared beetle abundance and community composit

SUBMITTER: Dawson BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11008735 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature