Response of carrion beetles Nicrophorus olidus and Oxelytrum discicolle (Coleoptera: Silphidae) to active and passive restoration in a cloud forest landscape in Mexico

Abstract

Active and passive restoration are strategies used to recover forest landscapes. Few studies have assessed wildlife recovery by comparing different restoration strategies of the same age in a tropical landscape. In this study, we compared the abundance and occurrence frequency of the carrion beetles, Nicrophorus olidus and Oxelytrum discicolle, between a 23-year-old forest under passive restoration (RP), a 23-year-old forest under active restoration (RA), a cattle pasture, and a cloud forest. We analyzed how beetle populations vary between climatic seasons, and examined the relationship of 10 environmental variables to beetle response. Nicrophorus olidus was more abundant in RA and O. discicolle in RP. The abundance of both species varied between seasons. The response of N. olidus to restoration was related to canopy cover and cover of the fern Pteridium arachnoideum. The abundance of O. discicolle was not related to any variable. Each restoration strategy offers environmental conditions that differentially influenced the species, despite the fact they belong to the same guild. We emphasize the importance of restoring landscapes with complementary strategies that contribute to recovering different species populations.