Ground beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) diversity assessment in the peat bog of the State Hydrological Sanctuary «Boloto Mokh» (Belarus)

• Published in: Nature Conservation Research: Заповедная наука Vol. 10; no. 2
• Main Author: Sushko, Gennadi G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2025
• ISSN: 2500-008X
• DOI: 10.24189/ncr.2025.009

Peat bog ecosystems play an important role in biodiversity conservation in the light of current climate changes. They provide appropriate environmental conditions, such as a high water table and acidity, low mineral nutrient content, and specific microclimate characteristics, for cold-adapted plants and animals in the temperate zone of Europe. The very specific environment of peat bogs determines their highly specialised biota. Beetles of the family Carabidae (hereinafter – ground beetles) are among the most numerous inhabitants of terrestrial ecosystems. They are a suitable object for assessing of the diversity patterns. It was suggested that one of the largest protected peatlands in Belarus, which forms the core of the state hydrological sanctuary «Boloto Mokh», reflects the main features of insect biodiversity of peat bogs due to its low disturbance. Using the pitfall trapping method, in six of the most typical peat bog habitats 28 ground beetle species were recorded. The Shannon (H’ = 0.26–1.15) and Pielou (J’ = 0.33–0.66) index values showed low diversity and evenness in ground beetle assemblages. The significantly (p < 0.05) higher diversity was in lagg habitats, whereas the lowest diversity was in hummocks and dome. The Non-metric Multi Dimensional Scaling showed a clear separation of species composition among the ground beetle assemblages of lagg, hummocks, pine bogs, and dome. The diversity parameters of the ground beetle assemblages of the studied peatland are comparable with those in other insect taxa. A similar species composition and low diversity of ground beetle assemblages have also been identified in other European countries. The state hydrological sanctuary «Boloto Mokh» does not contain traces of previous fires, which is also confirmed by the species composition of ground beetles. Therefore, the presented study confirms the high importance of the state hydrological sanctuary «Boloto Mokh» for diversity conservation of unique natural tundra ecosystems in Eastern Europe. The present research of ground beetle diversity of a large intact and protected peat bog, including all main habitat types, can be a starting point for comparative analysis of ground beetle assemblages in various regions of peatland distribution. Moreover, these results are important for assessing the variability of ground beetle assemblages under anthropogenic disturbance, since in many European countries pristine peat bogs that can be used as reference ones are extremely rare nowadays.