Preface

Abstract

The European Carabidologists’ Meeting (ECM) has a long tradition. It all started in 1969, when a small group of entomologists working on ground beetles met in Wijster (The Netherlands) to share the results of their research about ecology, biogeography and evolution.
Fifty years later, the 19th ECM was held in Fiera di Primiero, Italy, a small town in the middle of the Dolomites, the location of important recent carabidological studies. This also coincided with the retirement of Professor Pietro Brandmayr, an eminent carabidologist, faithful supporter, participant, and organiser of ECM meetings. This jubilee meeting was attended by 70 participants from 21 countries.
The main theme of the 19th ECM was “Carabids in extreme environments”, but in the tradition of the ECMs, it was also open to all contributions in carabidology. The following six sessions were organized: Carabids in extreme environments; Methods in carabidology; Forest management and stand disturbances impact on carabids; Carabid ecology and biogeography; Agroecosystems; Evolution and systematics.
We have had contributions not only from the extreme environments of the peaks of mountains (Gobbi, this volume), but also from cities where humans generate extreme conditions (Fattorini et al., this volume), and the solfatara fields in the Kunashir Island, the Russian Far East (Makarov et al., this volume), to name a few.
The conference was hosted by the Paneveggio National Park, and we have had a memorable excursion to the park itself, both made possible by the generous help from the national park, for which we are grateful.
The following papers may give the reader a flavour of the range of talks presented at the conference. We are looking forward to the next meeting that will surely push the frontiers of carabidology further.