Zoological Aspects of Ecological Succession on the Graded-Flat Dump of the Nazarovo Lignite Open-Cast Mine in Krasnoyarsk Krai

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This paper presents the results of a study on the population of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) on graded-flat dumps of the Kansk-Achinsk fuel and energy complex (KATEK) in the south of Krasnoyarsk krai in 1983–1985. In total, seven plots are examined, ranging in age from several weeks to 26 years. Abundance and species richness exhibit undulatory changes in the ground-beetle population of a sequence of unevenly aged communities. These demographic parameters have been found to be at a relatively high level in three communities, namely, pioneer (less than 1-year-old), initial (2-year-old), and medial (26 years). The three communities, which are the reference standards for the above stages, are distinguished by their own set of preferential species with a high density of populations in key habitats. Over a quarter-century succession in carabidocenosis, three types of the cenotic strategy (specific combinations of adaptive tactics) gradually replace one another in the following sequence: extreme pioneers → ruderal → stress-tolerant. The parameters of ground-beetle population succession and the order of their replacement on the graded dump are essentially different from the population of the dump with the differentiation of habitats by mesorelief. Under conditions of the gently rolling drawlike relief, the composition and structure of the 25-year-old beetle population approached the native standards of the forest-steppe biome much more closely than in the plateau conditions of the graded dump.