With uncertainty around canopy cover effects, we hope to answer how carabid community assemblages are influenced by the amount of light intensity reaching the ground by sampling carabids over a gradient of canopy cover. Also, if grazing in semi-natural grasslands is crucial for maintaining diversity and structure of vegetation, how could the amount of grazing eventually influence carabid community composition?

We surveyed grazed patches in a 687-hectares mixed-forest semi-natural grassland to assess how intensity of both grazing and canopy cover affect species richness, abundance, and composition of ground beetles. We hypothesize that diversity of carabids will vary among habitats with different canopy cover and grazing pressure, and we expect a negative effect on species diversity in heavily grazed areas, with a higher diversity in lightly grazed open canopy areas.