Refuge habitats modify impact of insecticide disturbance on carabid beetle communities

Summary 1. Carabid beetles are polyphagous predators that can act as biological control agents of insect pests and weeds. While current agricultural practices often create a harsh environment, habitat management such as the establishment of within-field refuges has been proposed to enhance carabid beetle abundance and impact. We examined the joint effects of refuge habitats and insecticide application on carabid activity density (parameter of population density and relative activity) and species composition in a cornfield. 2. Our 2-year study comprised four treatments: (i) ‐refuge/‐insecticide; (ii) + refuge/ ‐insecticide; (iii) ‐refuge/+insecticide; (iv) + refuge/ + insecticide. Refuge strips consisted of grasses, legumes and perennial flowering plants. ‘‐Refuge’ strips were planted with corn and not treated with insecticide. 3. Before planting and insecticide application, carabid activity density in the crop areas was similar across all treatments. Insecticide application immediately reduced carabid activity density and altered community composition in the crop area. 4. Refuge strips had significantly higher activity density of beetles than ‐refuge strips before planting and during the summer. 5. During summer, as new carabids emerged and insecticide toxicity declined, the presence of refuge strips influenced carabids in the adjacent crop area. Carabid activity density within crop areas previously treated with insecticide was significantly higher when adjacent to refuge strips. Also, carabid communities within insecticide-treated crop areas were affected by the presence or absence of a refuge strip. 6. The presence of refuge strips did not consistently augment carabid numbers in crop areas where insecticide was not applied. One explanation may be that insecticides decreased the quality of crop habitat to carabids by depletion of prey and direct mortality. However, subsequent rebounds in prey density and the absence of competing predators may make these areas relatively more attractive than unperturbed crop habitats to carabid colonization from refuges. 7. This study demonstrates that refuges may buffer the negative consequences of insecticide application on carabids in adjacent fields. Diversifying agro-ecosystems with refuge habitats may be a viable strategy for maintaining carabid populations in disturbed agricultural landscapes to keep pests below outbreak levels.

[1]  K. D. Sunderland,et al.  The diet of some predatory arthropods in cereal crops. , 1975 .

[2]  J. Holland,et al.  Some effects of polyphagous predators on an outbreak of cereal aphid (Sitobion avenae F.) and orange wheat blossom midge (Sitodoplosis mosellana Géhin) , 1996 .

[3]  S. Wratten,et al.  Creation of island' habitats in farmland to manipulate populations of beneficial arthropods : predator densities and species composition , 1991 .

[4]  P. Duelli,et al.  Population movements of arthropods between natural and cultivated areas , 1990 .

[5]  W. Nentwig,et al.  Surface activity of carabid beetles inhabiting cereal fields : seasonal phenology and the influence of farming operations on five abundant species , 1991 .

[6]  Brian A. Croft,et al.  Arthropod biological control agents and pesticides , 1990 .

[7]  F. Turpin,et al.  Carabid Damage to Weed Seeds Found in Indiana Cornfields , 1977 .

[8]  P. Jepson,et al.  Analysis of the spatial component of pesticide side effects on non-target invertebrate populations and its relevance to hazard analysis. , 1990 .

[9]  L. Best,et al.  Effects of Several Commonly Used Insecticides on Cornfield Carabids in Iowa , 1978 .

[10]  G. Fry,et al.  Field margins: can they enhance natural enemy population densities and general arthropod diversity on farmland? , 1992 .

[11]  N. D. Stone,et al.  Generalist Predator Consumption of Armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Effect of Predator Removal on Damage in No-Till Corn , 1994 .

[12]  D. Coombes,et al.  The dispersal and distribution of polyphagous predatory Coleoptera in cereals , 1986 .

[13]  S. Wratten,et al.  Effects of grassy banks on the dispersal of some carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) on farmland. , 1995 .

[14]  A. Kajak,et al.  Do semi-natural patches enrich crop fields with predatory epigean arthropods , 1994 .

[15]  Mark A. Quinn,et al.  Spatial and Temporal Changes in Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) Species Assemblages Collected with Suction Traps in Idaho , 1991 .

[16]  R. Plant,et al.  Role of Movement in the Response of Natural Enemies to Agroecosystem Diversification: A Theoretical Evaluation , 1993 .

[17]  N. Sotherton,et al.  The Effects of Beneficial Arthropods of the Exclusion of Herbicides from Cereal Crop Edges , 1991 .

[18]  Paul C. Jepson,et al.  A model for the spatial dynamics of linyphiid spiders in farmland , 1996 .

[19]  Professor Dr. Hans-Ulrich Thiele.  Carabid Beetles in Their Environments , 1977, Zoophysiology and Ecology.

[20]  R. O. Clements,et al.  The impact of the chemical removal of the hedge‐base flora on the community structure of carabid beetles (Col., Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) of the field and hedge bottom , 1992 .

[21]  N. Sotherton,et al.  The distribution and abundance of predatory Coleoptera overwintering in field boundaries. , 1985 .

[22]  D. Landis,et al.  Ecological considerations in the conservation of effective parasitoid communities in agricultural systems , 1998 .

[23]  W. Nentwig,et al.  Increase in activity density and species number of carabid beetles in cereals as a result of strip‐management , 1994 .

[24]  R. Foster,et al.  Effect of Habitat Characteristics and Perturbation from Insecticides on the Community Dynamics of Ground Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) on Mixed-Grass Rangeland , 1991 .

[25]  D. Landis,et al.  Habitat management to conserve natural enemies of arthropod pests in agriculture. , 2000, Annual review of entomology.

[26]  J. Holland.  The effectiveness of exclusion barriers for polyphagous predatory arthropods in wheat , 1998 .

[27]  K. Desender,et al.  Ecological and faunal studies of Coleoptera in agricultural land IV. Hibernation of Staphylinidae in agro-ecosystems , 1984, Pedobiologia.

[28]  G. Lövei,et al.  Ecology and behavior of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae). , 1996, Annual review of entomology.

[29]  C. Edwards,et al.  Studies on Polyphagous Predators of Cereal Aphids , 1979 .

[30]  D. Landis,et al.  DOES AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE AFFECT PARASITISM AND PARASITOID DIVERSITY , 1999 .

[31]  R. O. Clements,et al.  The influence of different types of grassland field margin on carabid beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) communities , 1995 .

[32]  N. Sotherton.  The distribution and abundance of predatory arthropods overwintering on farmland , 1984 .

[33]  R. Bommarco.  REPRODUCTION AND ENERGY RESERVES OF A PREDATORY CARABID BEETLE RELATIVE TO AGROECOSYSTEM COMPLEXITY , 1998 .

[34]  E. Hagley,et al.  OCCURRENCE AND ACTIVITY OF GROUND BEETLES (COLEOPTERA: CARABIDAE) IN A PEST MANAGEMENT APPLE ORCHARD , 1978, The Canadian Entomologist.

[35]  M. Hill,et al.  Detrended correspondence analysis: an improved ordination technique , 1980 .

[36]  M. Loreau,et al.  Effects of newly planted hedges on ground-beetle diversity (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in an agricultural landscape , 1999 .

[37]  P. Chiverton.  Pitfall‐trap catches of the carabid beetle Pterostichus melanarius, in relation to gut contents and prey densities, in insecticide treated and untreated spring barley , 1984 .

[38]  A. Honěk.  The effect of crop density and microclimate on pitfall trap catches of Carabidae, Staphylinidae (Coleoptera), and Lycosidae (Araneae) in cereal fields , 1988, Pedobiologia.

[39]  D. Landis,et al.  Influence of Refuge Habitats and Cover Crops on Seasonal Activity-Density of Ground Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in Field Crops , 1999 .

[40]  D. W. Wright,et al.  THE EFFECT OF CERTAIN PREDATORS ON THE NUMBERS OF CABBAGE ROOT FLY (ERIOISCHIA BRASSICAE (BOUCHÉ)) AND ON THE SUBSEQUENT DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE PEST , 1960 .

[41]  M. Hassall,et al.  Effects of headland management on invertebrate communities in cereal fields , 1992 .

[42]  W. Allen,et al.  Abundance and Diversity of Adult Carabidae in Insecticide-Treated and Untreated Alfalfa Fields , 1983 .

[43]  P. Kareiva.  Population dynamics in spatially complex environments: theory and data , 1990 .

[44]  J. Holt,et al.  Modelling pest population resurgence due to recolonization of fields following an insecticide application , 1998 .

[45]  P. J. Lester,et al.  The effects of refuge size and number on acarine predator-prey dynamics in a pesticide-disturbed apple orchard , 1998 .

[46]  A. Lang,et al.  Predation by ground beetles and wolf spiders on herbivorous insects in a maize crop , 1999 .

[47]  W. Nentwig,et al.  Increasing the availability of food and the reproduction of Poecilus cupreus in a cereal field by strip‐management , 1994 .

[48]  S. Wissinger.  Cyclic Colonization in Predictably Ephemeral Habitats: A Template for Biological Control in Annual Crop Systems , 1997 .

[49]  N. Aebischer,et al.  The effect of spatial scale of treatment with dimethoate on invertebrate population recovery in winter wheat , 1994 .

[50]  T. Frank.  SPECIES DIVERSITY OF GROUND BEETLES (CARABIDAE) IN SOWN WEED STRIPS AND ADJACENT FIELDS , 1997 .

[51]  J. Wyman,et al.  The Role of Seed-corn Beetles in Predation of Cabbage Maggot Immature Stages , 1976 .

[52]  Hugh G. Gauch,et al.  Multivariate analysis in community ecology , 1984 .

[53]  T. Basedow,et al.  Effects of insecticides on Carabidae and the significance of these for agriculture and species number. , 1990 .

[54]  E. Marshall,et al.  Aggregation and temporal stability of carabid beetle distributions in field and hedgerow habitats , 2001 .

[55]  C. R. Harris.  BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF CHLORPYRIFOS, CHLORPYRIFOS-METHYL, PHORATE, AND COUNTER® IN SOIL , 1977, The Canadian Entomologist.

[56]  H. Thiele.  Carabid Beetles in Their Environments: A Study on Habitat Selection by Adaptations in Physiology and Behaviour , 1977 .

[57]  F. Turpin,et al.  Serological Investigation of Black Cutworm Larval Consumption by Ground Beetles , 1977 .

[58]  A. E. Duffard.  Effects of Pesticides , 2002 .

[59]  E. Marshall,et al.  Arthropod abundance and diversity in differently vegetated margins of arable fields , 1999 .

[60]  S. Gage,et al.  Habitats and Management Associated with Common Ground Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in a Michigan Agricultural Landscape , 1997 .

[61]  A. D. Tomlin.  THE TOXICITY OF INSECTICIDES BY CONTACT AND SOIL TREATMENT TO TWO SPECIES OF GROUND BEETLES (COLEOPTERA: CARABIDAE) , 1975 .

[62]  C. P. Wheater.  Prey detection by some predatory Coleoptera (Carabidae and Staphylinidae) , 1989 .

[63]  L. Gut,et al.  VARIATION IN PEAR PSYLLA (PSYLLA PYRICOLA FOERSTER) DENSITIES IN SOUTHERN OREGON ORCHARDS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS , 1982 .

[64]  J. W. Smith,et al.  Attributes of natural enemies in ephemeral crop habitats , 1997 .

[65]  M. Thomas,et al.  Structural Features of Field Boundaries Which Influence the Overwintering Densities of Beneficial Arthropod Predators , 1994 .

[66]  P. Chiverton.  Effects of exclusion barriers and inclusion trenches on polyphagous and aphid specific predators in spring barley , 1987 .

[67]  P. Greenslade,et al.  Pitfall Trapping as a Method for Studying Populations of Carabidae (Coleoptera) , 1964 .

[68]  B. Stinner,et al.  Predator activity and predation in corn agroecosystems. , 1986 .

[69]  Carsten Thies,et al.  Landscape structure and biological control in agroecosystems , 1999, Science.

[70]  S. Wratten,et al.  Permeability of hedgerows to predatory carabid beetles , 1995 .

[71]  E. Marshall,et al.  Isolating the components of activity-density for the carabid beetle Pterostichus melanarius in farmland , 1998, Oecologia.

[72]  B. Stinner,et al.  Tillage and soil insecticide effects on predator-black cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) interactions in corn agroecosystems , 1985 .

[73]  E. F. Menhinick.  Comparison of Invertebrate Populations of Soil and Litter of Mowed Grasslands in Areas Treated and Untreated with Pesticides , 1962 .

[74]  D. Landis,et al.  Effect of Landscape Structure on Parasitoid Diversity and Parasitism in Agroecosystems , 1996 .