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The influence of habitat structure on aquatic beetles in southern Bohemia
KOLÁŘ, Vojtěch
I studied the influence of fishpond management and environmental characteristics on diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae), which are important predators in aquatic systems. In 2014 I used live traps to study diving beetle communities in 117 ponds in South Bohemia. The ponds were divided in three categories: intensively managed, extensively managed, and without fish. In total 26 species of diving beetles were found (N=1346). Overall, the beetles prefered shallow litoral zones with cattail (Typha), manna grass (Glyceria) and reed (Phragmites). The number of species declined with increasing alttitude and depth near the trap, while their abundance increased with pond area and amount of detritus near the trap. Beetles occured more in ponds with lower pH, lower conductivity and higher oxygen content. More beetles were found in fishless ponds. On the other hand, some ponds with high density of fishes but well preserved littoral zone had similar communities of diving beetles to the fishless ponds. This shows that high density of fish in ponds decreases the diversity and abundance of diving beetles, most likely because it decreases the vegetation in littoral zone. During the survey, four new localities of Graphoderus bilineatus were found; the species is protected by NATURA 2000 and has been known from very few recent localities in the Třeboň area.
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