Abstract:

Mulching with guest soil and rapid vegetation restoration in the coal mining area of the alpine mountain will greatly affect the distribution and diversity of ground beetles， and the change of altitude in coal mining areas will affect the community structure of ground beetles. In this paper， Dongdahe forest area in the middle of Qilian Mountains was selected as a research area， and three typical coal mines， Hongda （HD）， Tougoudaban （TGDB） and Xiaquangou （XQG） were selected as research objects according to the altitude gradient. In the three mine remediation areas and the control area （adjacent grassland）， we systematically investigated species composition and quantitative changes in ground beetles using traps and environmental factor. The impact of artificial coal mine restoration on the diversity of carabid beetles in the Qilian Mountains was analyzed and the response pattern of carabid beetle diversity to coal mine restoration was determined. Moreover， the main environmental factors affecting the distribution of ground beetles were determined by canonical correspondence analysis and correlation analysis. The main results are as follows. After five years of reclamation in the Dongdahe forest area， the composition of the ground beetle population differed a little between the coal mine restoration and control areas and varied with the elevation gradient. Furthermore， the average dissimilarity （84.4%） of the ground beetle communities at the coal mine restoration area and in the control area was higher in higher-elevation XQG coal mines than in lower-elevation HD and TGDB coal mines （54.6% and 57.2%， respectively）. The activity density of ground beetles at the restoration area of TGDB and XQG coal mines was significantly higher than that in the control area， and the species richness of ground beetles at the restoration area of XQG coal mines was significantly higher than that at the control areas. The functional traits of ground beetles， such as body size， influenced the response patterns of different beetle species to coal mine restoration. The coal mine restoration significantly increased the activity density and species richness of small beetles in the three coal mines， most notably in the XQG coal mine， and had little impact on large and medium-sized beetles. The result of the CCA shows that elevation gradient， slope degree， herbaceous cover and soil organic carbon content were key factors affecting ground beetle aggregation in the restoration area and the control area of the three coal mines， explaining 22.1% of the variation in ground beetle communities. Furthermore， through correlation analysis， we found that the distribution of large and medium-sized ground beetles was closely related to altitude gradient and slope degree， while the distribution of small ground beetles is related to change in herbaceous cover. In conclusion， the vegetation and soil environment changed by coal mine restoration in Qilian Mountains increased the activity density and species richness of small beetles， while the distribution of large and medium-sized beetles was mainly affected by altitude gradient and slope degree， and determined change in the response of ground beetle diversity to the restoration of the coal mine in the Qilian Mountains.

Key words: Qilian Mountains, Dongdahe forest area, coal mine restoration, ground beetle diversity, body size