THE INFLUENCE OF SOIL TYPE AND PINE SPECIES ON THE CARABID COMMUNITY OF A PLANTATION FOREST WITH A HISTORY OF PINE BEAUTY MOTH INFESTATION

The community composition of Carabid beetles, some species of which are known predators of pine beauty moth, was examined within a Scottish plantation forest. Sites differing in soil type and the species of trees planted were sampled with pitfall traps in most weeks of a 3-year period. There were faunal differences between sites with lodgepole pine on deep peat and other sites in the study (lodgepole pine on iron-pan soil, species mixture of lodgepole and Scots pine, and pure stands of Scots pine). In general deep peat sites supported fewer species and individuals of carabids. Three Carabus species were implicated as likely predators of Panolis flammea pupae and each was less abundant on the sites with lodgepole pine. It is suggested that the susceptibility to pine beauty moth of lodgepole pine growing on deep peat substrates is at least partly attributable to impoverished predator faunas.