Agricultural Land Use Determines the Trait Composition of Ground Beetle Communities.

ABSTRACT: In order to improve biological control of agricultural pests, it is fundamental to understand which factors influence the composition of natural enemies in agricultural landscapes. In this study, we aimed to understand how agricultural land use affects a number of different traits in ground beetle communities to better predict potential consequences of land-use change for ecosystem functioning. We studied ground beetles in fields with different agricultural land use ranging from frequently managed sugar beet fields, winter wheat fields to less intensively managed grasslands. The ground beetles were collected in emergence tents that catch individuals overwintering locally in different life stages and with pitfall traps that catch individuals that could have a local origin or may have disper

SUBMITTER: Hanson HI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4711665 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature