<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Many species of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are important predators of seeds. While the consumption of herb seeds has been intensively studied, little attention has been paid to the consumption of seeds of gymnosperm plants. Here, we determined the consumption of seeds of six coniferous species by four common carabid species and compared carabid preference for conifer and selected common angiosperm weed seed species. In no-choice experiments, the large carabid species <italic>Pseudoophonus rufipes</italic> preferentially consumed the seeds of <italic>Picea abies</italic>, <italic>Larix decidua</italic> and <italic>Pinus sylvestris</italic>. <italic>Pinus sylvestris</italic> was also preferred by another large carabid, <italic>Pterostichus melanarius</italic>. The smaller carabids <italic>Harpalus affinis</italic> and <italic>H. rubripes</italic> consumed conifer seeds reluctantly. The intensity of seed consumption by carabids decreased with increasing seed size. In choice experiments, both of the large carabid species preferred the small conifer seeds of <italic>P. sylvestris</italic> and <italic>L. decidua</italic> over herb seeds of similar size (<italic>Dipsacus fullonum</italic>, <italic>Galeopsis speciosa</italic>, <italic>Polygonum lapathifolium</italic>). Carabids may prefer conifer seeds because of their soft seed coats, regardless of their chemical protections. Postdispersal predation of seeds by carabids may be an important mortality factor in some conifer species.</p></abstract>

Many species of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are important predators of seeds. While the consumption of herb seeds has been intensively studied, little attention has been paid to the consumption of seeds of gymnosperm plants. Here, we determined the consumption of seeds of six coniferous species by four common carabid species and compared carabid preference for conifer and selected common angiosperm weed seed species. In no-choice experiments, the large carabid species Pseudoophonus rufipes preferentially consumed the seeds of Picea abies, Larix decidua and Pinus sylvestris. Pinus sylvestris was also preferred by another large carabid, Pterostichus melanarius. The smaller carabids Harpalus affinis and H. rubripes consumed conifer seeds reluctantly. The intensity of seed consumption by carabids decreased with increasing seed size. In choice experiments, both of the large carabid species preferred the small conifer seeds of P. sylvestris and L. decidua over herb seeds of similar size (Dipsacus fullonum, Galeopsis speciosa, Polygonum lapathifolium). Carabids may prefer conifer seeds because of their soft seed coats, regardless of their chemical protections. Postdispersal predation of seeds by carabids may be an important mortality factor in some conifer species.

Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as predators of conifer seeds

Institute of Forest Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences

Folia Oecologica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as predators of conifer seeds"}

Many species of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are important predators of seeds. While the consumption of herb seeds has been intensively studied,...

Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as predators of conifer seeds

Published Online: May 27, 2019

Page range: 37 - 44

Received: Jan 16, 2019

Accepted: Mar 23, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/foecol-2019-0006

Keywords
angiosperms, gymnosperms, seed consumption, seed size

© 2019 Zdenka Martinková et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as predators of conifer seeds

Published Online: May 27, 2019

Page range: 37 - 44

Received: Jan 16, 2019

Accepted: Mar 23, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/foecol-2019-0006

Keywordsangiosperms, gymnosperms, seed consumption, seed size

© 2019 Zdenka Martinková et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
angiosperms, gymnosperms, seed consumption, seed size