It is likely that the life strategies which were successful to survive in deciduous forest conditions, were positively selected for the bioclimatic Mediterranean belt too (PCA quadrant III; Fig 4), but only to some extent. Carabid populations colonizing olive plantations of the Mediterranean belt were characterized almost entirely by generalist zoophagous predators (e.g., Calathus fuscipes) and the lack of specialized predators, while the latter were present with a few species in deciduous forests. They were also characterized by a chorological spectrum dominated by Mediterranean species; and by low body size variability, mainly restricted to s3 category (a category size of 10-15mm).