Impacts of Dryland Cropping Systems on Ground Beetle Communities (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the Northern Great Plains.

ABSTRACT: Ground beetles are natural predators of insect pests and small seeds in agroecosystems. In semiarid cropping systems of the Northern Great Plains, there is a lack of knowledge to how ground beetles are affected by diversified cover crop rotations. In a 2-yr study (2018 and 2019), our experiment was a restricted-randomization strip-plot design, comprising summer fallow, an early-season cover crop mixture (five species), and a mid-season cover crop mixture (seven species), with three cover crop termination methods (i.e., herbicide, grazing, and haying). Using pitfall traps, we sampled ground beetles in five 48-h intervals throughout the growing season (n = 135 per year) using growing degree day (GDD) accumulations to better understand changes to ground beetle communities. Data analysis inclu

SUBMITTER: DuPre ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7913543 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature