Ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) communities on upland heath and their association with heathland flora

1. Ground beetle communities from sixty-two sites on Calluna-dominated heath within the North York Moors National Park were sampled using pitfall traps. The resulting datasets were ordinated by Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DECORANA) and classified by Two Way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINSPAN) and fuzzy clustering. 2. Ordination indicated that the distribution of carabid species between sites was influenced by site wetness and vegetation development. Both classifications indicated a separation between carabid species from wet sites and those from Calluna-dominated sites. Fuzzy clustering also revealed characteristic carabid communities associated with the different development phases of Calluna. 3. A good correlation was found between the fuzzy clustering classifications of ground beetles and plants from the same series of sites. However, knowledge of one set of data cannot be used to predict the other. 4. Results are discussed with respect to the conservation of carabid communities and current management practices prevailing with the National Park.