Carabid Beetle and vegetation associations in the Tasmanian Eastern Tiers: implications for conservation

Abstract

The distribution and abundance of the carabid beetle fauna of selected grassy ecosystems, wet and dry sclerophyll forests, and wet heaths in the Eastern Tiers, Tasmania was examined using pitfall traps. The conservation values of the sites were assessed by applying evaluation criteria typically used for vegetation (i.e., representativeness, typicalness, diversity and rarity) to both the carabid fauna data and the vegetation data. Sites of high conservation value for carabids and vegetation were identified and compared. Sites that ranked highest in terms of the carabid fauna on all conservation criteria were not the sites that ranked highest based on the vegetation. Classification of sites produced different results depending on whether plant or carabid data were used. Conservation based solely on vegetation attributes will therefore not necessarily conserve a rich and/or representative carabid fauna. If the objective to conserve a representative range of all biota is to be met, the use of additional taxa such as carabids in conservation assessments is desirable.