Abundance and species richness of dytiscid water beetles were estimated with activity traps in ten lakes each in south, central and north Sweden. Partial least square regression models with two significant components explained 76.5% and 55.8% of the total variance in dytiscid abundance and species richness, respectively. For abundance as well as species richness, component 1 had its highest positive loadings for structural complexity of vegetation and abundance of Asellus and Diptera immatures, and high negative loadings for relative shore depth. Component 2 had its highest positive loadings for fish abundance, number of dipterans in emergence traps and relative shore depth, and high negative loadings for lake area. Both the number of dytiscid individuals and species were higher in the northern lakes than in the two other regions. Smaller species were not more abundant in the traps than larger ones. Species mean abundance was positively correlated with number of lakes occupied.