Age of grassy strips influences biodiversity of ground beetles in organic agro-ecosystems

Ranjha, Mazhar Hussain; Irmler, Ulrich

doi:10.4236/as.2013.45030

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…polyculture (de Bruin et al 2010;Tscharntke et al 2016). All this should create the foundation for greening the rural economy, to prevent the progressive fragmentation and diminished role of margin habitats as hot-spots of biodiversity (Ranjha and Irmler 2013;Franin et al 2016). Polycultural landscape means the protection of habitats with reservoirs of zoophages, which are both host plants for invertebrates, as well as invertebrates as alternative food for zoophages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground beetles (Carabidae) of field margin habitats

Bennewicz

Barczak

2020

Biologia

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The aim of this study was to identify the role of field margin habitats in preserving the diversity and abundance of ground beetle assemblages, including potentially entomophagous species and those with conservation status in Poland. Research material was collected in 2006–2007 in four types of margin habitats – a forest, bushes, ditches and in two arable fields. Insects were captured into pitfalls, without preservation liquid or bait added to the traps. Traps were inspected twice a week, between May and August, and one sample was a weekly capture. In field margin habitats the most abundant species were Limodromus assimilis, Anchomenus dorsalis, Pterostichus melanarius and Carabus auratus. A lower abundance of species was noted on fields, with dominant Poecilus cupreus and P. melanarius. The group of zoophagous carabids found in our study includes 30 species from field margin habitats, i.e. 37.5% of all captured Carabidae taxa and 58.3% of all specimens. The share of aphidophagous species was 84.9% among bushes, 86.7% near ditches, and 88.0% in the forest habitat. Several species captured during the study are under protection in Poland. These include the partly protected Carabus convexus, which also has the status of near threatened species, the partly protected Calosoma auropunctatum, and Broscus cephalotes. Considering all the investigated field margin habitats, ground beetles were most numerous in the oak-hornbeam habitat, defined as bushes, formed predominantly by Prunus spinosa, Crataegus leavigata, Sambucus nigra and Rosa canina. Thus, this habitat was the most important reservoir/refugium for the ground beetles.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground beetles (Carabidae) of field margin habitats

Bennewicz

Barczak

2020

Biologia

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“…It was more abundant in SWA than wheat fields (Lys et al ., ) and is considered as a field‐edge species (Saska et al ., ), which agrees largely with our observation. By contrast, it was also observed to be evenly distributed over wheat fields and SWA or grassy margins (Frank et al ., ; Ranjha & Irmler, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differentiation of spring carabid beetle assemblages between semi‐natural habitats and adjoining winter wheat

Anjum‐Zubair

Entling

Bruckner

et al. 2015

Agri and Forest Entomology

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1 Semi-natural habitats are part of agri-environment programmes throughout Europe. Little is known about activity-density and assemblage composition of carabid beetles within sown wildflower areas (SWA) compared with conventional grassy field margins and adjoining arable fields. 2 In 10 landscapes, two pairs of winter wheat fields with adjoining SWA and grassy field margin were studied. We compared activity-density, species richness, ecological traits and assemblage composition of carabids among 20 winter wheat fields, 10 adjoining grassy field margins and 10 adjoining SWA. 3 Beetle activity-density was higher in wheat fields compared with adjoining semi-natural habitats regarding total carabids, macropterous, polyphagouscarnivorous and euryoecious open habitat beetles. Although total species richness (analysis of variance) did not significantly differ among habitat types, we found significantly higher species numbers in SWA than in wheat fields adjoining SWA and grassy margins when the number of recorded species was standardized to the number of individuals (rarefaction). Carabid assemblages in wheat fields differed from assemblages in adjoining SWA and grassy margins. 4 The results of the present study emphasize the important contribution of semi-natural habitats to diversify the spring carabid fauna in agroecosystems. In particular, SWA were shown to be useful to enhance carabid biodiversity conservation in agroecosystems, rather than to enhance their density-dependent functions.

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“…The mean body size of carabids was measured in at least 20 individuals for each species, and if the sample size was smaller than 20, all individuals were measured. The carabids' feeding traits were categorized into two feeding preferences: carnivorous and omnivorous [44,45]. All the captured carabids were macropterous species whose wings were longer than the elytrae [46].…”

Section: Spider and Carabid Community Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of Spider and Epigaeic Beetle Assemblages to Overwinter Planting Regimes and Surrounding Landscape Compositions

Chong,

Zhu,

Lai

et al. 2023

Insects

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The rotation patterns of summer rice–winter oil seed rape and summer rice–winter fallow are the main planting regimes in the rice ecosystem in southern China. However, the impact of local rotation patterns and landscape factors on the overwintering conservation of predators in spider and epigaeic beetle assemblages remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate the diversity and density of spiders and beetles over two consecutive winters (2019/2020 and 2020/2021), focusing on the impact of two rotation patterns (rice–fallow and rice–oilseed rape) and surrounding landscape compositions on predator diversity. The main findings of our research were that spiders were more abundant and had a higher activity density in the fallow rice fields (FRs) compared to the oilseed rape fields (OSRs), whereas ground beetles exhibited the opposite pattern. Specifically, fallow rice fields supported small and ballooning spiders (e.g., dominant spider: Ummeliata insecticeps), while OSRs supported larger ground beetles (e.g., dominant beetles: Agonum chalcomus and Pterostichus liodactylus). Moreover, the composition of spider assemblages were impacted by semi-natural habitats (SNHs) during overwintering, while ground beetle assemblages were influenced by overwinter planting patterns. Overall, our results suggest that different planting regimes and preserving semi-natural habitats are a strategic way to enhance species diversity and functional diversity of ground predators. It is, therefore, recommended that to conserve and improve predator diversity during overwintering, land managers and farmers should aim to maintain diverse planting regimes and conserve local semi-natural habitats.

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Age of grassy strips influences biodiversity of ground beetles in organic agro-ecosystems

Cited by 6 publications

References 40 publications

Ground beetles (Carabidae) of field margin habitats

Ground beetles (Carabidae) of field margin habitats

Differentiation of spring carabid beetle assemblages between semi‐natural habitats and adjoining winter wheat

Response of Spider and Epigaeic Beetle Assemblages to Overwinter Planting Regimes and Surrounding Landscape Compositions

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