Multi-phase recovery of carabid assemblages during 19 years of secondary succession in forest stands disturbed by windstorm without salvage logging in northern Poland.

Windstorms impact the functioning and structure of forests and cause economic losses. For this reason, various potential methods of regenerating windthrown stands are investigated. Some of these studies use invertebrates, such as carabid beetles (Col.

Ground beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) assemblages inhabiting Scots pine stands of Puszcza Piska Forest: six-year responses to a tornado impact.

Ground beetle assemblages were studied during 2003-08 in the Pisz Forest by comparing stands disturbed by a tornado to undisturbed control stands. The following exploratory questions were put forward. (1) How do the carabid assemblages change during six years following the tornado impact? (2) Does the carabid assemblage recovery begin during the six first post-tornado years? To assess the state of carabid assemblages we used two indices: the MIB (Mean Individual Biomass) and the SPC (Sum of Progressive Characteristics).