Species composition was analyzed using correspondence analysis (CA) and the effects of the environmental variables on species composition were analyzed by canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) (Leps and Smilauer 2003). Species occurring at only one site were excluded, and the species data were square root-transformed to reduce the effects of dominant species (Leps www.selleckchem.com/products/nu7441.html and Smilauer 2003). The significance of the environmental variables was tested with a Monte Carlo permutation test (499 permutations). Sampling intensity was

included as a covariable and values of ‘percents variance explained’ and ‘eigenvalues’ were taken after fitting the covariable. Two different combinations of species assemblages were tested: all beetles (n = 108) and only carabids (n = 25). Canoco for Windows 4.5 was used for the ordination (Braak and Smilauer 1998). Results A total of almost 2,500 beetles were sampled, representing 256 species of 30 families (see species list in Appendix Table 4). Sand species were relatively abundant (42%), but were represented by only 39 species (15%), half of which belonged to the carabid family (20 species). The most numerous species was the sand-dwelling carabid Lionychus quadrillum (n = 395), followed by two other sand species, Anthicus flavipes (n = 176) and Calathus erratus (n = 166).

Half of the species (n = 126) were only represented by one individual. Two species (Apalus bimaculatus and Lycoperdina SCH727965 nmr succincta) are listed as ‘near Metalloexopeptidase threatened’ in the 2010 Swedish Red List (Gärdenfors 2010). Per study site, the number of species of all beetles ranged from 20 to 67 and the number click here of individuals from 59 to 444. The number of sand species ranged between 2 and 15, and the proportion of sand species

between 3 and 30%. The corresponding numbers per study site for carabids were 2–14 species, 18–165 individuals, 0–8 sand species and 0–100% sand species. Carabids were the most abundant beetle family with 901 individuals of 58 species. They represent one-fourth of the total number of species and half of the sand species. As carabids account for a substantial part of the total beetle species number it is expected for species numbers of these two groups to be correlated (p = 0.009, R 2 = 69.3% for all species; p = 0.001, R 2 = 81.1% for sand species). Species-area relationships The area of bare ground were chosen to represent the area of the sand pit as it gave a slightly better fit than the highly correlated (0.992, p = 0.000) variable total area (Table 2). A positive SAR was found for sand-dwelling species, both for carabids and for all beetles, respectively (Table 2; Fig. 2). The quadratic power function gave the best fit, whereas the power function showed a near-significant relationship with z values of 0.25 for sand-dwelling carabids and 0.12 for sand-dwelling beetles (Table 2). Table 2 Species-area relationship Area variable Systematic gr. Habitat group Power function Quadratic power function p R 2 z p R 2 Bare ground Beetles No.