The study for the community structures of the Korean fir (Abies koreana) dead wood-dwelling beetles in Mt. Halla National Park, Jeju Island, Korea

Background/Question/Methods and Results/Conclusions

We studied beetles community at the different decay stages (live, early decay, middle decay, last decay) of Korean fir (Abies koreana) in Mt. Halla National Park (1500 ~1700m elevation), Jeju Island, Korea. The beetles that live in Korean fir were collected by emergence traps from April to October in 2012. The beetle community was classified regarding their functional groups as herbivores, fungivores, xylophagous, saproxylophagous, detrivores, and predators. Beetle community with variables (decay stages, aspect, elevation, functional groups) was discriminated by univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. We’ve collected 5155 individuals (21 families, 55 species), and we separated the individuals into the proportion and number of functional groups; herbivores (33.3%, 1715), predators (0.1%, 5), xylophagous (1.6%, 85), and detritivores (65.0%, 3350). From the results, we found that the Korean firs including live trees and dead trees played very important roles for beetles as their habitats. Thus, we could have confidence that emergence traps were very efficient at catching beetle groups (particularly, Elateridae and Staphylinidae). When we measure forest study, the dead woods must be the important factor in forest ecosystems. Therefore, although biodiversity study including beetles may be far complex, we suggest that we always consider the roles of dead woods with various arthropods in forest management ecosystems.