Carabid Beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Response to Soil Properties of Urban Wastelands in Warsaw, Poland

Axel Schwerk, Marzena Wińska-Krysiak, Arkadiusz Przybysz, Ewa Zaraś-Januszkiewicz and Piotr Sikorski
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Axel Schwerk: Department of Landscape Art, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Marzena Wińska-Krysiak: Section of Basic Research in Horticulture, Department of Plant Protection, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Arkadiusz Przybysz: Section of Basic Research in Horticulture, Department of Plant Protection, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Ewa Zaraś-Januszkiewicz: Department of Environmental Protection and Dendrology, Institute of Horticulture Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Piotr Sikorski: Department of Remote Sensing and Environmental Research, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 24, 1-16

Abstract: Urban wasteland is of special interest to city planners. However, to integrate such areas into city space management with consideration of nature conservation aspects, a sound assessment of their ecological potential is necessary. The aim of this paper was to analyze whether carabid beetle assemblages of the wastelands are affected by soil parameters, particularly trace element contamination. Therefore, we studied the carabid fauna in relation to selected soil parameters on 56 sampling plots situated in 24 wastelands located in the city of Warsaw (Poland). The results have confirmed our assumptions that the number of species, as well as the number of individual carabid beetles, are negatively affected by an increasing amount of pollutants in the soil. Particularly, the trace elements Pb, Cu, and Cd showed a significantly negative impact. The results are of value when it comes to the use of urban wastelands in the context of sustainable city development. Future use of urban wastelands will be faced with trade-offs between the use for public interests (e.g., housing space) and ecological interests. Phytoremediation and entomoremediation may be included in decontamination measures. The results of studies, such as the one conducted by us, may help to select the respective wastelands for certain purposes.

Keywords: Carabidae; species richness; abundance; soil parameters; urban wasteland; sustainable development; Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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