Abstract
Carabids are frequently used in terrestrial ecology on account of their well-known autecology, wide distribution, their role as predators generally restricted to a given area, their sensitivity to environmental changes and also due to the availability of good identification keys. The EC project ERMAS started in 1993 and involves six European countries; its aim is to study the structure and functioning of riverine ecotones in different environmental conditions. Among the tasks of the project was the evaluation of biodiversity using terrestrial invertebrates. To achieve this a considerable sampling effort was undertaken by all teams. Pitfall traps were chosen as the sampling strategy because they permit greater comparability as opposed to when different operators work in different environments. On each river system we considered five series of transects from the river margin to the edge of the floodplain. All samples were sent to the Museum of Natural Sciences of Trento for identification and data processing. In all, more than 400000 invertebrates were identified and the results were computed to form a common database. Data on the carabid community are used here for biodiversity trends, classification analysis and similarity indices.
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Boscaini, A., Franceschini, A. & Maiolini, B. River ecotones: carabid beetles as a tool for quality assessment. Hydrobiologia 422, 173–181 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017011209061
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017011209061