EFFECTS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT-PRACTICES ON TERRESTRIAL COLEOPTERAN ASSEMBLAGES IN SAND PINE SCRUB

Coleopteran assemblages were sampled monthly for one year using pitfal l traps in replicated sites of three 5- to 7-year-old disturbance trea tments and mature forested sand pine scrub in the Ocala National Fores t, Marion County, Florida. Disturbance treatments were (1) burning at high-intensity and salvage-logging; (2) clearcutting, roller-chopping and broadcast seeding, and; (3) clearcutting and bracke-seeding. Commu nity similarity of coleopterans was high. No differences in species ri chness, diversity, density, or evenness were detected. Of 40 species c aptured, only seven were common (n > 50). Predaceous beetles were nume rically dominant followed by scavengers. Few xylophagous or herbivorou s coleopterans were captured, probably due to trap bias. Peaks of annu al above-ground terrestrial activity varied among species. An absence of differences among treatments may reflect similar plant communities or structural habitat features. Additionally, a dearth of mature fores t specialists might be predicted in systems where mature forest was hi storically rare due to large-scale, high-intensity, and low-frequency wildfire.