Vol. 11, Special Issue 11 (2022)

The study conducted to understand the seasonality of carabids and impact of weather factors on the diversity of carabids in Mudigere, Chikkamagalur district, Karnataka, in three ecosystems viz., cardamom, coffee and mixed cropping ecosystems resulted in various outcomes. One UV light trap and six pitfall traps were set up at weekly intervals in all the three ecosystems. The collected carabids were processed and identified possibly up to subfamily level. A total of 1,782 individuals and 45 species were collected comprising 14 subfamilies, 37 genera and 20 tribes from all the three ecosystems, representing 677, 527 and 578 individuals and 45, 42 and 43 species in coffee, cardamom and mixed cropping ecosystem, respectively. When seasonality of the beetles was observed using Woldas’s seasonality classification, most of the carabid species collected had highly seasonal activity and very few were more or less observed in all the seasons. Further, significant correlation between abundance and different weather parameters did not exist for pooled data of light and pitfall traps in any of the three ecosystems whereas species richness was significantly correlated with maximum and minimum temperature in coffee ecosystem. Similarly, with respect to light and pitfall trap collections all weather parameters had significant influence on adult activity in at least one of the three ecosystems whereas for species richness minimum temperature, RH1 and RH2 were significantly correlated.