Did ManFor C.BD forest treatments influence diversity and composition of invertebrate communities?

Coleoptera are the largest insect order, being almost ubiquitous in terrestrial environments, such as forests. They occupy an extremely wide range of ecological niches, with a broad range of specializations both at the adult and larval stages (New, 2010), and are the predominant group of saproxylic organisms and the main xylophagous insects in Europe, and consequently particularly adequate as bio-indicators to evaluate the preservation of forest environments (Stokland et al., 2012). As a single group may not be sufficient to assess the richness or abundance of other taxa, an integrate approach, combining different beetle families representative of different communities, habitat requirements or functional groups, is preferable (Koivula, 2011). Among beetle families, Carabidae, Scarabeoidea, Buprestidae, Cerambycidae and other xylophagous groups are commonly used as bio-indicators. Due to their abundance in beech forests, three families illustrative of different trophic levels and functional groups, Carabidae, Ceram - bycidae and Curculionidae Scolytinae, have been selected to evaluate the effect of forest management. Carabidae, or 'ground beetles', are one of the largest families of the order. Most species are predators of other invertebrates at the larval and adult stages but they also include granivores and mycophagous species.