Carabids; Environmental factors; Functional traits; Landscape restoration; Rank-abundance models; Species turnover; Spoil heaps

We used epigeic beetles as a model group to investigate the process of primary succession of arthropods on spoil heaps for about 30 years of spontaneous development. We calculated indices of functional diversity (functional evenness, functional richness and functional divergence). Our results provide evidence that primary succession in post-industrial habitats differs from that in more natural habitats due to the rapid rate of successional changes and their attributes. In particular, abiotic factors are constitutive in comparison to interspecific competition during succession. The canonical correspondence analysis model identified that irregular disturbances are another important phenomenon of succession in post-industrial habitats. We assume that constant indices of functional evenness and richness reflect rapid colonization from surrounding habitats. Functional divergence was significantly correlated with increasing proportion of forest species.