Abstract
Post-mining sites represent important secondary refuges for invertebrates as well as for fungal species, often providing biodiversity hotspots in homogenous landscapes. Our study focuses on assemblages of carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae), spiders (Araneae), and macromycetes (Fungi: Basidiomycota, Ascomycota) in abandoned kaolin quarries and their immediate surroundings in the Pilsen region, Czech Republic. We studied mined and unmined sites and the impact of past mining, the vegetation composition of the sites, cover of herb and tree layers, and the amount of dead wood on the target groups. In total, we confirm the occurrence of 54 carabid beetle, 147 spider, and 139 macromycetes species, including several Red-listed species across the given groups. Carabid beetles and spiders, as well as the all Red-listed species, tend to prefer early successional open habitats. The fungal species displayed affinity to dead wood. Our results indicate that not only the invertebrates, but also macromycetes species prefer open post-mining sites, which are a substitute for endangered habitats such as natural wetlands or xerophilic grasslands.
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21 June 2023
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02641-8
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Acknowledgements
We are thankful to Stanislav Vodička (Trnová) and Ondřej Vaněk (Trnová) for helping with determination of spider and carabid beetle species. We are grateful to Jaroslava Vavřínková and Karolína Rauchová (both at the Faculty of Education, University of West Bohemia) for help in the field, and Matthew Sweney for English correction.
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This study was financially supported by an internal grant of the Museum of West Bohemia (IGP 04/2020).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [Jan Walter], [Ivana Hradská], [Jiří Kout] and [Jan Bureš]. The first draft of the manuscript (text, figures, table) was written by [Jan Walter] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Walter, J., Hradská, I., Kout, J. et al. The impact of abandoned kaolin quarries on macromycetes (Fungi: Basidiomycota, Ascomycota), carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae), and spider (Araneae) assemblages. Biodivers Conserv 32, 1437–1449 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02561-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02561-7