| Ground-dwelling beetles in grasslands of northern ChinaKeywords: Grasslands – Disturbances – Cropland management – Pastoral management – Landscape – Tenebrionidae.
Currently, my work focuses on the drivers of the community structure of ground-dwelling beetles in grasslands of northern China. The study site is Yanchi. I benefit from my colleagues knowledge of this study site. The site is located in Yanchi county, in Eastern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and is characterised by a cold semi-arid climate, type “BSk”, rare rainfall (2-78 mm) and temperatures ranging from -8°C to 22°C. In northern Yanchi, vegetation is typical of desert steppe plant community. As described by (Kang et al., 2007), vegetation is dominated by many Stipa Spp and Allium polyrhizum Turcz. ex Regel. The south of Yanchi is characterised by typical drought tolerant plant species and the most common are the Stipa steppes, the Festuca steppes, the Leymus steppes and the Artemisia steppes. The site is also characterised by new areas converted into vegetable and maize fields (Nan et al., 2018). (Nan et al., 2018) also found that grazing increased in the county with a level of about 2.5 sheep/hm2 since 2011.
The region is threatened by climate change and human disturbances leading to habitat lost for wildlife.
My work would be divided in three parts:
Currently, I am working on the points (1) and (2). The point (3) is my project plan for next year.
  Project plan 2019Local and landscape drivers of darkling beetles (Coleoptera:Tenebrionidae) in Yanchi county grasslands, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
The new geological age, Anthropocene, is marked by the undeniable impact of human activities on ecosystems structure and functioning. Grassland ecosystems are one of the most altered in the world. Insects as well as all wildlife communities in grasslands undergo numerous pressures which impact and modify their habitats. Consequently, ecosystem services provided by insects like dwelling beetles are impeded. It is urgent to investigate factors impacting dwelling beetles to set up sustainable measures for their conservation. Darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) are one of the major orders of dwelling beetles observed in grassland ecosystems. Tenebrionids are mainly detritivores and essential in nutrient recycling. Some species are herbivorous feeding on plants leaves, reproductive organs or roots. They also serve as food for higher trophic level species like birds. For these reasons, darkling beetles are of major interest for China grasslands. The goal of this research project is to determine the drivers of Tenebrionids species richness, activity-density and assemblages. We will investigate the effects of local and landscape factors on darkling beetles along a gradient of grazing intensity from north to south of Yanchi county in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The results of this study will improve our understanding of the dynamic, structure and functioning of darkling beetles communities along gradients of disturbances in grasslands. Finally, the study will give an insight into darkling beetle drivers for their conservation in grasslands.
   Bibliographical referencesKang, L., Han, X., Zhang, Z., Sun, O.J., 2007. Grassland ecosystems in China: review of current knowledge and research advancement. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 362, 997–1008. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2029 |
Beetles in North China grasslands
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