This book presents the whole picture of the ecological and evolutionary study on the ground beetle group, the subgenus Ohomopterus of the genus Carabus, endemic to Japan. This flightless beetle group consists of many geographic races. They show divergence in key traits for reproductive isolation—body size and genital morphology, which leads to coexistence of two or more species. This beetle group provides an important material to study how a lineage of organisms diversify and form multi-species assemblage, and thereby multiply their species richness. The book introduces novel genomic approaches to resolve questions about evolution of Ohomopterus. The readers will find that this story of evolution in Carabus beetles revealed by recent approaches is much different from what was told in previous literature. Exploring different cases across a wide range of lineages is important in constructing a synthetic theory of species radiation and richness, including speciation and species coexistence. This study on Ohomopterus beetles contributes to the ongoing discussion to understand how and why species multiply and how species richness increases in one area of our planet.

The Carabidae form one of the largest and best studied families of insects, occurring in nearly every terrestrial habitat. The contributions included in this book cover a broad spectrum of recent research into this beetle family, with an emphasis on various aspects of ecology and evolution. They deal both with individual carabid species, for example in studies on population and reproductive biology or life history in general, and with ground beetle communities, as exemplified in papers treating assemblages in natural habitats, on agricultural land and in forests. Disciplines range from biogeography and faunistics, over morphology, taxonomy and phylogenetics, ecophysiology and functional ecology, to population, community, conservation and landscape ecology. This volume is the result of the 8th European Carabidologists' Meeting, 2nd International Symposium of Carabidology, September 1-4, 1992, Belgium.

Carabid ground beetles, sometimes called "walking jewels", are among the most thoroughly investigated insects in the world. This book presents the results of molecular phylogenetic analyses of 2000 specimens, including 350 species and that cover more than 90% of the known genera, from 500 localities in 35 countries. These comprehensive analyses using mitochondrial DNA-based dating suggest that carabid diversification took place about 40 to 50 million years ago as an explosive radiation of the major genera, coinciding with the collision of the Indian subcontinent and Eurasian land mass. The analyses also lead to surprising conclusions suggesting discontinuous evolution and parallel morphological evolution. With numerous color illustrations, this book presents readers with the dynamic principles of evolution and the magnificent geographic history of the earth as revealed by the study of beetles.

This open access book presents and analyzes the results of more than 30 years of long-term ecological research in riparian forest ecosystems with the aim of casting light on changes in the dynamics of riparian forests over time. The research, focusing on the Ooyamazawa riparian forest, one of the remaining old-growth forests in Japan, has yielded a number of interesting outcomes. First, it shows that large-scale disturbances afford various trees opportunities for regeneration and are thus the driving force for the coexistence of canopy trees in riparian forests. Second, it identifies changes in reproductive patterns, highlighting that seed production has in fact quantitatively increased over the past two decades. Third, it describes the decline in forest floor vegetation caused by deer grazing and reveals how this decline has affected bird and insect populations. The book illustrates the interconnectedness of phenomena within an ecosystem and the resultant potential for cascade effects and also stresses the need for long-term ecological studies of climate change impacts on forests. It will be of interest to both professionals and academics in the field of forest science.

With the increasing numbers of research workers and groups of investigators devoting themselves to the ecology of carabids I felt that the time had come to take stock of the existing knowledge in this field and to endeavour to weld my personal results and those of other workers into a comprehensive picture. It was with these aims in mind that the following study was conceived. A further goal was to attempt to show to what extent research on carabids can contribute to the larger fields of research encompassing ecology, ethology and evolution. In my opinion the investigations on carabids permit us to draw conclusions of general applicability and, as such, comparable with those made in recent years upon other groups of animals. I am well aware of the risk involved nowadays in attempting, on one's own, to integrate results from a wide variety of scientific disciplines into a meaningful whole, and for this reason I am always grateful for corrections and for additional information. It is impossible for me to mention by name all of the col leagues who have given me their support in the preparation of the book. Reprints of their publications have been placed at my disposal by almost all of the authors cited, as well as by others whose names and works have been omitted merely in order to prevent the book from taking on encyclopedic pro portions. I am nevertheless indebted to them all for their cooperation.

The ground beetle genus Carabus (Coleoptera, Carabidae) is one of the most intensively studied groups of insects. For more than 200 years a huge amount of data has been accumulated on taxonomy, biology, phylogeny, ecology and biogeography. From the start in 1989, the aim of the project was to present a complete European summary, combining data from both Western and Eastern Europe. The results are presented to the scientific community in the form of a thorough and attractive book, which will be indispensable in the field of entomology, ecology and biogeography.