Abstract: Litter-dwelling beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblages were monitored for two years (2001 and 2002) after the construction of a corridor in 2000 for the installation of a pipeline along a xeric ridgetop forest in unglaciated southeastern Ohio. After the creation of the corridor, there were three distinct habitats on the study site: open corridor, forest interior, and ecotone. Carabid beetles were collected in directional pitfall traps, which were placed along north-south and east-west directions in each of the three habitats. An ANOVA on the 2001 sampling data indicated that carabids were aggregated primarily in the ecotone, whereas the numbers of specimens collected from the forest interior and corridor were similar. Carabid diversity, estimated by rarefaction, was highest in the corridor, and there was no significant difference in diversity between the ecotone and the forest interior. The forest interior and ecotone assemblages were dominated by Synuchus impunctatus (Say) and Carabus goryi (Dejean), whereas the corridor assemblage was dominated by Harpalus pensylvanicus (DeGeer) and Selenophorus opalinus (LeConte). Directional pitfall trap orientation had no significant effect on the number of carabids collected. An NMS (non-metric multidimensional scaling) ordination of the 2001 data indicated that the carabid assemblages in the corridor were distinct from those of the ecotone and forest interior, whereas the latter two habitats had very similar carabid assemblages. Therefore, the successional pathway of the corridor carabid assemblage will likely be different from those of the forest interior and ecotone. Limited comparisons of the 2001 and 2002 data indicate that generalist species, which may out-compete forest specialist species, became more abundant in the corridor and ecotone after one year of succession. Overall, results indicate that the construction of the pipeline corridor had significant short-term effects on the number of carabids collected, as well as on carabid diversity and species composition due to habitat changes and fragmentation of the forest stand.

The loss and fragmentation of natural habitats is one of the major issues in wildlife management and conservation. Habitat "corridors" are sometimes proposed as an important element within a conservation strategy. Examples are given of corridors both as pathways and as habitats in their own right. Includes detailed reviews of principles relevant to the design and management of corridors, their place in regional approaches to conservation planning, and recommendations for research and management.

The study of habitat edges is important in biodiversity conservation. Increased fragmentation (i.e., more and longer forest edges) has been attributed increasing human population and has led to changes in biodiversity. Edges are considered boundaries of ecotones which are often defined based on visual cues (i.e., where tree canopy stops, or where ground cover changes). This method does not take into account the nuances in environmental changes that might be occurring at these edges and how that might influence biodiversity. Also, few studies take into account the influence of landscape patch context on biodiversity changes with respect to distance from the edge. The objectives of our research were to: (1) identify the spatial patterns of carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) diversity and environmental variables at forest patch edges; (2) to identify whether patterns of carabid beetle diversity are related to environmental patterns at forest patch edges; and, (3) determine if land use surrounding forest patches influences patterns at edges. I collected beetles using pitfall traps between April and August, 2011 at the edges of three forest patches in Charlotte, North Carolina. Traps were set in 9 x 9 grid patterns with four rows of traps on the open side, one row at or very close to the edge, and four rows on the forested side. Each forest patch was embedded in a different land use context, defined by variation in building and road density: urban, suburban, or rural. For each trap, I measured environmental variables important to the distribution of carabid beetles, including air temperature and relative humidity, ground cover structure, and vegetation type. To address our first research objective, I used triangulation wombling to identify boundaries in carabid beetle community structure and environmental variables (high rates of change based on data points among trap locations) at each edge. To address our third research objective, I ran several generalized linear models using analysis of variance. Response variables consisted of abundance, richness, evenness (using Berger-Parker index), and evenness of forest specialist species. Our predictor variables were distance from the edge, site context (U, S, R), and the residual scores of a principle component analysis conducted on environmental variables. 1 found that carabid beetle community boundaries as well as environmental boundaries do not necessarily follow what an observer might typically consider the forest edge. I also found patch context had little to no effect on carabid beetles as a whole group but when dividing them into habitat preference groups, context demonstrated an effect. Overall, increasing urbanization surrounding patches lessened the effect of distance from the forest edge on carabid beetles.

Beetle species belonging to the coleopteran families Bruchidae, Curculionidae, Laemophoeidae, Silvanidae and Tenebrionidae, as well as beetle-like insects from the psocopteran family Liposcelidae, are responsible for serious damages to agricultural products and resources. These beetles can be primary and/or secondary pests, feeding on integral and healthy grains or attacking those already damaged. The affected grains lose weight and germination power, have nutritive value and vigor decreased, as well as have the hygiene and sanity conditions impaired. This book examines the biodiversity, ecology and role in the environment of beetles.

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.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 305: Interaction Between Roadways and Wildlife Ecology summarizes existing information related to roadway planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance practices being used successfully and unsuccessfully, nationally and internationally, to accommodate wildlife ecology given the challenging background of rapid growth and diminishing natural resources.