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Occupation of space by the carabid beetle Abax ater

par Loreau, Michel ;Nolf, C.L.
Référence Acta oecologica, 14, 2, page (247-258)
Publication Publié, 1993

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

Abax ater (Coleoptera: Carabidae) was studied in a near-climax beechwood in Belgium. Population density fluctuated around an average of 2062 individuals per hectare, a roughly constant value for 13 yr. Locomotor activity was weakly correlated with daily temperature, and was higher in males. The spatial distribution of activity was weakly contagious, and increasingly approached a random distribution at larger scales. The contagious distribution was not explained by a small-scale heterogeneity in either temperature or food quantity. Movements appeared to conform to a typical random walk over relatively short distances; mean distance covered per day by males was 1.8 m. "Home range' was c660 m2, but was slightly larger in males. An individual is liable to encounter and interact with an average of 543 other individuals in its trivial movements, which suggests a considerable mixing in the population. -from Authors