01831nas a2200205   4500008004100000245010100041210006900142300001400211490000700225520120700232653001401439653001201453653001501465653001601480653002701496100001401523700002001537700001601557856005201573       2008                        eng d00aBody size and biomass distributions of carrion visiting beetles: do cities host smaller species?0 aBody size and biomass distributions of carrion visiting beetles   a241–2480 v233 aThe question how animal body size changes
along urban–rural gradients has received much attention
from carabidologists, who noticed that cities harbour
smaller species than natural sites. For Carabidae this
pattern is frequently connected with increasing disturbance
regimes towards cities, which favour smaller
winged species of higher dispersal ability. However,
whether changes in body size distributions can be generalised
and whether common patterns exist are largely
unknown. Here we report on body size distributions of
carcass-visiting beetles along an urban–rural gradient in
northern Poland. Based on samplings of 58 necrophages
and 43 predatory beetle species, mainly of the families
Catopidae, Silphidae, and Staphylinidae, we found
contrary patterns of necrophages and predatory beetles.
Body sizes of necrophages decreased towards the city
centre and those of predators remained unchanged.
Small necrophages and large predators dominated in
abundance in the city centre. Necrophage body sizes
appeared to be more regularly spaced in the city centre
than expected from a random null model and in comparison
to the rural pattern, pointing to increased
competition.10aBody size10aCarrion10aColeoptera10aDisturbance10aRural–urban gradient1 aUlrich, W1 aKomosiñski, K1 aZalewski, M  uhttps://cholevidae.myspecies.info/ja/node/1306801808nas a2200241   4500008004100000245006700041210006700108300001200175490000600187520114400193653001201337653001501349653001501364653001601379653001401395653001901409653001401428653002201442100001401464700001601478700002001494856005201514       2007                        eng d00aDiversity of carrion visiting beetles at rural and urban sites0 aDiversity of carrion visiting beetles at rural and urban sites  a171-1810 v83 aThe question whether and to what degree urbanization causes a decrease in diversity of animal and plant
species and changes in community structure is still a matter of debate. While many studies used ground beetles, vertebrates,
and butterflies as assumed model taxa, little work has been done with other, particularly insect, taxa. Here we
report on rural and urban diversities of communities of carcass visiting destruent and predatory beetles (Coleoptera).
From 8 rural and 2 city sites, we sampled 15323 destruent beetles representing 58 species and 1871 predators from 43
species. We observed a reduced diversity and changes in community structure of both beetle guilds towards the city.
However, these changes were guild specific and our study gives no evidence that there are simple rules that govern rural
and urban patterns of diversity. Species abundance distributions did not significantly differ between the study sites. There
is also no evidence that the intermediate disturbance hypothesis might apply. Lastly, we found only little support for a
homogenizing effect of urban environments on carrion visiting beetles.10aCarcass10aColeoptera10aDestruents10aDisturbance10aDiversity10aHomogenization10aPredators10aSpecies abundance1 aUlrich, W1 aZalewski, M1 aKomosiñski, K  uhttps://cholevidae.myspecies.info/ja/node/13067