Competition among zoophages of wide trophic spectrum: a case study of the genus Carabus as an example

• Main Author: V. V. Brygadyrenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oles Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University 2006-07-01
• Series: Vìsnik Dnìpropetrovsʹkogo Unìversitetu: Serìâ Bìologìâ, Ekologìâ
• Online Access: http://ecology.dp.ua/index.php/ECO/article/view/384

Causes of the species numbers decreasing of the genus Carabus have been analysed. It was found, that abundance of pabular objects and total numbers of mesofauna on the plots of the carabid beetles’ high abundance (0.1‑0.9 spec./10 trap-days) are no different from the sites of the caraids’ numbers of one-two orders of magnitude less. The competitive relationships among zoophages of the upper trophic levels are less tense than among organisms of the lower trophic levels (producers, consumers of first- and second-orders)