Balancing fuel reduction and biodiversity: Divergent impacts of prescribed burning and mechanical clearing on ground beetles

Prescribed burning and mechanical clearing are widely applied fuel management strategies for wildfire hazard reduction in Mediterranean shrublands, yet their ecological effects on insect communities remain insufficiently understood. We investigated the effects of these treatments on ground beetle (Carabidae) diversity and abundance in Mediterranean heathlands within the Natura 2000 network in central Italy. Carabid assemblages were monitored using pitfall traps between 2019 and 2021, and diversity was assessed using Hill numbers and rarefaction approaches accounting for sampling completeness. Prescribed burning generally maintained carabid diversity at levels comparable to untreated control plots, with the notable positive trends observed in the third year after the prescribed burning, particularly for dominance-weighted diversity (Hill–Simpson index). In contrast, mechanical clearing consistently resulted in reduced species richness and abundance. Control plots showed relatively stable diversity values but did not exceed those of managed treatments. Overall, our results suggest that prescribed burning, under the conditions studied, can help maintain habitat heterogeneity and support ground beetle communities, whereas intensive vegetation removal may have detrimental effects. These findings provide useful insights for integrated fire management in fire-prone Mediterranean landscapes, while highlighting the need for longer-term and multi-taxa studies to optimise fire management and fully assess ecosystem recovery following fuel treatments. • Prescribed burning maintained ground beetle diversity at levels comparable to untreated control plots. • Mechanical cutting consistently reduced carabid diversity and abundance across all study years. • Ground beetle communities showed rapid short-term responses to fuel management treatments. • Prescribed burning preserved community evenness, whereas cutting promoted simplified assemblages. • Ground beetles proved to be effective bioindicators of fuel management impacts in Mediterranean heathlands.