Dispersal as a key element of community structure: the case of ground beetles on lake islands

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Abstract
In order to study the influence of dispersal ability on community structure of ground beetles (carabidae), 15 lake islands and 2 mainland sites of the lake Mamry archipelago, northern Poland, were sampled by using pitfall traps. Of the 71 ground beetle species detected, 47 were macropterous, 16 wing‐dimorphic and 8 brachypterous. Macropterous species had lower site abundances and occupied fewer sites than dimorphic and brachypterous species. There were trends from macropterous to brachypterous species towards a nested distribution across the sites and towards over‐dispersed (aggregated) species co‐occurrences. Canonical correspondence analysis pointed to site isolation and area as main factors influencing site abundance and spatial distribution. Our results imply that further studies on species co‐occurrences and community assembly have to consider dispersal ability as a key element influencing ecological distributions at the regional scale.

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