Management practices, local habitat features, and landcover associated with carabid and scarab beetle occupancy and abundance in restored Black Belt grasslands

Grassland restoration and conservation is necessary to retain ecosystem services and biodiversity. Insects are ecologically important yet often not the focus of restoration. Beetles in the family Carabidae (carabids) are frequently studied after restoration, but the effects of grassland restoration on beetles in the family Scarabaeidae (scarabs) have not been extensively studied despite high scarab diversity in grasslands. Investigating the effects of restoration on carabids and scarabs can inform restoration plans and conservation of these diverse and ecologically influential taxa. Further, most research on beetle responses to grassland restoration have occurred in Europe or the Great Plains of the United States. We investigated how carabids and scarabs were associated with management practices, local landcover, habitat features, and Red Imported Fire Ant ( Solenopsis invicta ) density in an understudied grassland system in the southeastern United States, the Black Belt Prairie. We collected beetles from 24 sites and analyzed morphospecies‐level data with occupancy models and family‐level data with abundance models. Vegetation diversity, burn frequency, agricultural landcover, and disturbed landcover were positively associated with occupancy probability, while urban landcover was negatively associated with occupancy probability. We found positive relationships between the occupancy probability of some morphospecies and tree basal area, time since burning, and seeded restoration and negative relationships between occupancy probability and these covariates for other morphospecies. Our results indicate S. invicta had a direct negative relationship with carabids and scarabs. We identified potential relationships carabid and scarab morphospecies have with habitat and management that can direct future research and support management and restorations of grasslands.