Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXVIII, Issue 1
Written by Cristian Andrei MURGU, Cezara Lavinia Tudose, Cristina Maria POPESCU, Geta RÎȘNOVEANU
Riparian zones represent valuable riverine habitats that contribute to regional biodiversity and promote valuable ecosystem services within their catchments. Land use changes historically impacted riparian areas within most agrarian catchments, leading only to small land gains at high cost of ecosystem service loss. Ground beetles represent validated bioindicators and an important group of predators acknowledged as valuable cross-ecosystem trophic links and pest control agents. We studied the community composition of ground beetles along a land use gradient within the riparian zones of a moderately impacted agricultural catchment. We emphasize the importance of riparian forested buffers for sustainable agriculture through the support of multiple pest predators and the promotion of higher biodiversity across agrarian landscapes.
[Read full article] [Citation]
