Consequences of the cessation of 3000 years of grazing on dry Mediterranean grassland ground-active beetle assemblages.

Due to extensive grazing regimes over a long period of time, the Plain of Crau, the unique steppe of France, is a particularly suitable model to study the role of sheep grazing on beetle (Coleoptera) assemblages and their response to grazing abandonment. After four years of abandonment, beetle assemblages first only undergo a decrease in the abundance of a few species and then a gradual and slight change in species composition. Later, there is a change in the structure of assemblages, which increases with increasing time since abandonment. After 23 years of grazing abandonment, there is no significant loss of species.