Importance of management on the distribution and abundance of Staphylinidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) on coastal grazing marshes

Abstract A combination of survey/multivariate analysis and field experiment was used to examine the importance of management variables in determining the distribution and abundance of Staphylinidae on coastal grazing marshes. In total 22 fields on three different coastal marshes were surveyed and a number of management-affected habitat parameters measured. A field experiment emulating grazing and fertiliser application was carried out on an unmanaged field. Based on Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), 52% of the variation in species assemblages on surveyed fields could be explained with seven environmental variables, which broadly fell into two categories: physical soil properties and structural vegetation characteristics. The most important factors were soil temperature and vegetation height, followed by soil compaction. Whilst staphylinid communities on the same marsh could be clearly separated based on some management categories (no management versus grazing, grazing versus cutting, grazing intensity), the location of the marsh exerted an additional management-independent effect, complicating comparisons between marshes.