A Comparison of Carabid Beetle Taxocenes Between Rengeland and Conservation Reserve Program Fields in Western Kansas

The carabid beetle taxocenes in two treatment types, CRP and rangeland, were investigated to determine what species of carabids inhabit those areas. In the summer of 2005, 34 pitfall-arrays were set-up in a paired design through Trego County, Kansas. A significant difference was found in species richness between the two treatments; however, no difference was found in either abundance or evenness values between the treatments. A canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that sites could be differentiated by treatment by using vegetation composition form each site. Carabid beetles have the potential to be bioindicators of grasslands in North America despite previous research, which states that using arthropods for environmental studies is often considered too difficult. Using on species. Pasimachus elongates LeConte, a logistic regression was able to predict the correct treatment type 91.2% of the time. This justifies the need for further research into the applicability of this species as a bioindicator. My study adds to the limited amount of literature on carabid beetle ecology in the United Sates