Transforming vacant land to urban agriculture influences ground beetle (Carabidae) and rove beetle (Staphylinidae) communities in Cleveland, OH

Ground and rove beetles are two of the most abundant ground-dwelling beetles in North America, and have been used as biological indicators in several studies to examine the effect habitat alteration as they are known to respond to changes in temperature, canopy density, and soil composition in forests and urban settings.

We studied Carabidae and Staphylinidae in vacant lots in Cleveland, Ohio a city that has experienced a remarkable population decline in the last 50 years and currently contains over 20,000 vacant lots.

The goal of this study was to determine how transforming vacant land to create community gardens or pocket prairies (vacant lots seeded with native plants) influenced the abundance, richness, and evenness of ground-dwelling beetles. We hypothesized that beetle assemblages will differ among treatments and that generalist species will be more abundant in sites with higher management disturbance.

Beetles were sampled in three treatments: vacant lots, community gardens, and planted prairies for three consecutive summers 2011-2013. Ground and rove beetles were identified to species and genus, respectively.

Initial results suggested that although diversity was very similar, unique taxa were found in planted prairies where vegetation was the most diverse and disturbance was the least. Additionally, generalist species were more abundant in community gardens and vacant lots, and were associated to higher disturbance levels.

In conclusion, ground and rove beetle diversity were effectively used to assess how two of the most abundant and diverse groups of beetles are responding to the conversion of vacant lots. A more exhaustive analysis will examine the diversity of specialist beetles and their respond to vegetation complexity.