Effects of human-dominated landscape on the community structure of silphid and dung beetles collected by carrion pitfall traps

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of landscape and local environmental factors on the community structure of carrion beetles (silphid and dung beetles) and the abundance of major species in artificial (agricultural and urban landscapes) and forest landscapes in northeastern Japan. Eight study sites were set up in forest landscapes, six in agricultural landscapes, and six in urban landscapes. From June to October 2019, we collected carrion beetles using 385 pitfall traps. A total of 2,119 carrion beetles belonging to 15 species were captured. This included six species of silphid beetles and nine species of dung beetles. The non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) for carrion beetle community showed that carrion beetles have different community structures in forest landscapes compared to other landscapes. Generalized dissimilarity modeling (GDM) showed that canopy openness and a landscape factor had the large influence on the community structure. The generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) showed that the abundance of the major species was low in open environments. This study indicates that the community structure of carrion beetles differs depending on the landscape in northeastern Japan. The local environment, especially the canopy openness, had a great influence on the community structure and abundance of carrion beetles. Anthropogenic changes at the landscape scale may alter carrion beetle community by significantly changing the local and surrounding environment.