Effect of forest removal on the abundance of the endangered American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

• DOI: 10.1007/s10841-007-9115-4
• Publication Date: 2007-10-15T13:09:43Z
• Authors: J. Curtis Creighton; Robert Bastarache; Mark V. Lomolino; Mark C. Belk
• Keywords: Animal ecology; Habitat Fragmentation

We test the hypothesis that the decline of the endangered American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) from over 90% of its original range is the result of habitat loss and fragmentation of eastern North America. Forest removal at a site in southeastern Oklahoma known to have a significant population of N. americanus gave us a unique opportunity to test this hypothesis. At the local scale of this experiment, N. americanus declined significantly after forest removal while beetle numbers at adjacent forested plots did not change. Our results indicate that local disturbances such as forest removal, if occurring across relatively broad spatial scales, can cause wholesale geographic range collapse in this species.