Carabid taxocenes of an urban park in subtropical Brazil: II. Specific diversity and similarity (Insecta: Coleoptera: Carabidae)∗

Excerpted from a MSc dissertation by the first author, Curso de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia, UFRGS.

Epigeal carabids of a typical urban park in subtropical Brazil (Porto Alegre) were sampled by means of 48 dry pitfall traps running for 13 months and emptied at weekly intervals. Sampling was confined to areas covered by English ivy (Hedera helix) and strata were defined as follows: the centre and the margin of the patch; the percentage cover of the soil given by the ivy (dense or sparse); the type of periphery of a patch (lawns or bare/paved soil). A total of 2107 specimens in 27 species was captured. Measures of diversity and similarity of carabid taxocenes were carried out between habitat strata. Six indices were used to measure diversity and the Simpson's index c was elected the most adequate due to the strong dominance of the taxocenes of all the strata by a single species (P. (P.) cordicollis). Similarity was measured by the Renkonen Coefficient (PS) and the Sorensen Quocient of Similarity (QS). The PS was elected the best measure given the type of dominance structure of the taxocenes. Dominance-diversity curves were fitted by eye to the geometric series though many points (especially for the rare or vagrant species) did not fall on the straight line.

Notes

Excerpted from a MSc dissertation by the first author, Curso de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia, UFRGS.