DOI: 10.5061/dryad.wdbrv15zv
title: Species- and trait-based responses of carabids to rotation and closer-to-nature forestry in a temperate forest under changing climate

description: European temperate forests are managed by various silvicultural practices
 that can impact ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in terms of species
 composition and abundance. However, the responses at the assemblage or
 community level may not provide sufficient insight into how individual
 species react to forest management. We examined the species- and
 trait-based mid-term (2014–2018) responses of the eight most common
 carabid species in a managed oak-hornbeam forest in Hungary. The studied
 forestry treatments included preparation cutting, clear-cutting, green
 tree retention, gap cutting, and undisturbed control plots. Species
 responses varied across forestry treatments and years, but clear-cutting
 consistently had a negative impact on multiple species, particularly on
 Abax parallelepipedus, Aptinus bombarda, and Carabus hortensis. In
 contrast, the abundance of Carabus coriaceus and Carabus ullrichii
 declined after an initial burst in the newly established treatments.
 Functional traits also influenced the responses; forest specialists and
 spring and autumn breeders were negatively affected by clear-cutting and
 retention, followed by an overall decline in their abundance.
 Notwithstanding, habitat generalists and species without a defined
 breeding season exhibited more stable abundance trends over the years.
 These declines may be linked to phenological shifts driven by climate
 change. Spring breeders may have extended their activity period, leading
 to increased competition with autumn breeders in late summer and autumn
 when tenerals of spring breeders emerge. Although our study presents
 mid-term trends, we believe that it provides a further understanding of
 the responses of carabid species in managed temperate forests.
description: # **Species- and trait-based responses of carabids to rotation and
 closer-to-nature forestry in a temperate forest under changing climate**
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wdbrv15zv](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wdbrv15zv) ## Description of the data and file structure This dataset contains species- and trait-specific changes in the abundance of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) collected in a Hungarian oak-hornbeam forest managed under different forestry treatments. These treatments represented two different silvicultural systems: the rotation forestry system characterized by preparation cuttings, clear-cuttings, and green tree retentions, while small-scale gaps represented the most widely used treatment from the closer-to-nature forestry. Additionally, there were undisturbed control plots without any treatment. The study design followed a complete block design, employing six blocks as replicates. Carabid data collection followed the Before-After Control-Impact (BACI) concept. Initially, we sampled all plots before the implementation of forestry treatments in 2014, using these pre-treatment data as a baseline. Subsequently, we conducted data collection over the following four years, from 2015 to 2018, resulting in a 5-year-long dataset. In this study, we selected the eight most dominant species to ensure data robustness and model estimates. For each species, we collected traits related to their life history and ecology. In particular, we categorized them according to their habitat affinity (forest-habitat specialists, and generalist species), overwintering stage (adult, larva, and adult), and breeding season (spring breeders, autumn breeders, and breeding unrelated to season). Besides the CSV file containing all data used, the annotated R script (Ruzickova-etal-script.R) is attached to run statistical analyses and create figures. ### Files and variables #### File: pilis-species-2025.csv **Description:** Abundances and changes in abundance for 8 carabid species and abundances of a particular trait category. Block represents replicates (1-6), and forestry treatments are preparation cuttings (P), clear-cuttings (CC), green tree retentions (R), gaps (G), and controls (C). **Species-specific abundance data:** columns 4-11 for eight species, their names are abbreviated as follows: Aba.ate = *Abax parallelepipedus* Apt.bom = *Aptinus bombarda* Car.cor = *Carabus coriaceus* Car.hor = *Carabus hortensis* Car.sch = *Carabus scheidleri* Car.ull = *Carabus ullrichii* Neb.bre = *Nebria brevicollis* Pte.mel = *Pterostichus melanarius* **Trait-specific abundance data:** columns 12-18 for seven trait categories based on habitat affinity, overwintering stadium, and breeding season, abbreviated as follows:  Hab.for = Habitat: Forest species Hab.gen = Habitat: Generalist species Win.ad = Overwintering: Adult Win.bot = Overwintering: Larva and adult Bre.who = Breeding: Whole season Bre.spr = Breeding: Spring breeders Bre.aut = Breeding: Autumn breeders Columns 19 - N = total abundance For more details, please follow the R script attached to this data file. ### Code/software The annotated R script (Ruzickova-etal-script.R) was built in R version 4.3.2, and the following packages are needed for a successful run of the script: tidyverse, MuMIn, glmmTMB, DHARMa, vegan, car, emmeans, multcomp, and patchwork.