Ground beetles (Carabidae, Coleoptera) of moist hay meadows along the Nida River near Korytnica (Central Poland)

The species composition and structure of ground beetle communities were studied in hay meadows along the Nida River using Barber's traps. Four study sites were chosen in the meadows of a large State Farm in Korytnica LSF and another four in meadows belonging to small private farms SPF. A total of 2 019 individuals of ground beetles representing 41 species were captured in the LSF meadows, compared to 1 926 individuals (31 species) in the SPF meadows. Pterostichus melanarius was a dominant species in both LSF and SPF meadows. Ecological analyses showed a predominance of open-area species representing the autumn developmental type, most often included among large zoophages. A zoogeographical analysis revealed Euro-Siberian species as dominants. Ground beetles occurred most numerously in August. The finding of low similarity of individual communities, particularly with regard to species (qualitative similarity), suggests that the adjacent meadows support widely different communities of ground beetles