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Member Symposium

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

From the Ground Up: Using Carabids to Investigate Questions Across Diverse Habitats

Conservation grazing management and carabid assemblages in restored and semi-natural grasslands

Wednesday, November 13, 2024
2:11 PM – 2:29 PM MST
Location: Phoenix Convention Center, 127 A, PCC
Oral Presentation
Grasslands, and the organisms that inhabit them, depend on disturbances to maintain the
structure of these habitats. Grazing by large mammals is one important disturbance in
grasslands worldwide, and grazing is used as a management strategy to mimic historical
disturbances by wild or domesticated animals. We studied ground beetle assemblages in two
settings: restored North American tallgrass prairies managed with or without bison, and semi-
natural grasslands in Germany either annually grazed by sheep or other livestock or mowed.
Bison shifted ground beetle assemblage composition in tallgrass prairies, with a lower
proportion of carnivorous beetles, but few other changes in traits. In semi-natural grassland,
mowing was generally a suitable replacement for grazing, except for the most sensitive (i.e.,
Red List) species, which were less frequent at mowed sites. Grazing management, which is
usually focused on vegetation outcomes, seems to be compatible with maintaining
taxonomically and functionally diverse ground beetle assemblages.