Structural changes in the carabid fauna of forest ecosystems under a toxic impact

Changes in the abundance, species composition, and biomorphological structure of the carabid fauna were studied in birch and fir-spruce forests growing in a zone exposed to emissions from a copper-smelting plant in the Middle Urals. The dynamic density of carabids decreased and their species composition and the ratio of life forms changed along the pollution gradient, but the principle of organization of carabidocenoses and the structure of dominance in them remained undisturbed.