5. CONCLUSIONS
The present study provides the first approach that attempts at investigating the effect of various independent variables on beetle community composition and richness along contrasted landscape types across Laos. A potential limitation of the study is that sampling did not follow a standardized protocol across the country. On the contrary, we compiled here a dataset of beetle specimens collected using different sampling efforts and methods. It was clear that both composition and abundance differed depending on the trapping method. In this case, a good sampling should probably use several complementary approaches to sample the whole diversity of beetles. For instance, while light traps are probably suitable for sampling flying insects, pitfall traps are adapted for ground-dwelling species. Still, we were able to make use of this dataset by employing various approaches to account for these unequal sampling strategies: country-scale and local family richness were estimated from accumulation curves, trapping methods were always included as covariables, and sampling effort was incorporated as an offset in statistical models. The main outcome of the present study is that the conversion of natural forests to plantations is harmful for beetle communities, at least in terms of their abundance. More studies are needed to better understand this pattern and to understand how species richness is also impacted. This may be achieved in the future by implementing long-term monitoring of beetles across Laos following a simple protocol that can be used by many volunteers, and by incorporating a better taxonomic resolution (i.e., species) in analyses.