Assessment of the index of dominance structure applied to epigeic communities of staphylinids (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)

This paper presents an original, synthetic index ID determining the dominance structure of multispecies communities of invertebrates. The proposition consists in a reduction of the community's structure to four synthetic' species: dominant species, subdominant species, influent species and accessory species. The index ID was tested on 149 epigeic communities of staphylinids of the Bialowieza Forest which consisted of 73 421 beetles representing 333 species. A strong relationship was shown between a habitat and community structure and thus validity of analyses of dominance structure by means of the index ID for natural forest objects valorisation has been confirmed.