Species matter when considering landscape effects on carabid distributions

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Jowett, K., Milne, A. E., Metcalfe, H., Hassall, K. L., Potts, S. G., Senapathi, D. and Storkey, J. 2019. Species matter when considering landscape effects on carabid distributions. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 285 (2019), p. 106631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106631

AuthorsJowett, K., Milne, A. E., Metcalfe, H., Hassall, K. L., Potts, S. G., Senapathi, D. and Storkey, J.
Abstract

Increasing the abundance and diversity of carabid beetles is a common objective of farm habitat management to deliver sustainable pest control. Carabid spatial distributions in relation to crop areas are important to the delivery of this ecosystem service.
We used pitfall count data at distances from edge habitats into crop centres, from farm sites across the UK, to determine the effects of in-field and adjacent environmental features on carabid abundance and diversity.
Overall carabid abundance increased towards the crop centre, whilst species richness and diversity decreased. The analyses of carabid abundance based on all the species pooled together strongly reflected the behavior of the most abundant species. Species preferences varied by crop, soil type, and environmental features. For instance, some species were positively associated with habitats such as margins, while others responded negatively. This contrast in individual species models highlights the limitations on pooled models in elucidating responses.
Studies informing farm-habitat design should consider individual species’ preferences for effective enhancement of pest control services. Diverse cropping and landscape heterogeneity at the farm scale can benefit the varied preferences of individual species, help build diverse communities and, potentially increase service resilience and stability over time.

KeywordsAgricultural management; Carabid beetles; Habitat creation; Landscape heterogeneity; Biological pest control; Arable fields; Ecosystem functions
Year of Publication2019
JournalAgriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
Journal citation285 (2019), p. 106631
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106631
Web address (URL)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880919302476
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Natural Environment Research Council
Funder project or codeASSIST - Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Systems
BBSRC Strategic Programme in Smart Crop Protection
S2N - Soil to Nutrition - Work package 3 (WP3) - Sustainable intensification - optimisation at multiple scales
Publisher's version
Copyright license
CC BY
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online19 Aug 2019
Publication process dates
Accepted05 Aug 2019
PublisherElsevier Science Bv
ISSN0167-8809

Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/8wyx8/species-matter-when-considering-landscape-effects-on-carabid-distributions

237 total views
126 total downloads
2 views this month
2 downloads this month
Download files as zip