Virgin forests are an invaluable resource of the forest ecosystem and therefore a frequent object of research. Krokar virgin forest is the largest virgin forest remnant in Slovenia and lies in the heart of the northern Dinarides. The predator guild of ground-dwelling arthropods has so far been unexplored in Krokar, therefore we focused our study on three predator groups - spiders, centipedes and ground beetles - which are considered good bioindicators of forest habitats. We compared the assemblages of the selected predator groups by sampling throughout the year in the virgin forest and the nearby managed forest. A total of 98 species were recorded, 68 in Krokar and 81 in the managed forest, and species richness estimates did not differ statistically significantly between the two forests. The influence of forest type on community composition was confirmed for all groups investigated, while the influence of developmental stage was confirmed only for centipedes. In contrast, season had an effect on spider and ground beetle assemblages. Systematic sampling was then carried out in the wider area of the Krokar virgin forest for faunistic and genetic inventories of the ground fauna. We used remote sensing data to plan the fieldwork and classified the area of the virgin forest into three classes according to the type of relief and selected a representative distribution of the sampling sites. In total, we collected 2012 specimens of spiders, centipedes and ground beetles belonging to 97 species. A reference library of DNA barcodes was constructed, comprising 124 specimens from 73 species. This laid the foundations for monitoring the impact of climate change on the species and genetic diversity of pristine parts of the Dinaric Mountains.
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