Species diversity of ground beetles (Carabidae) in sown weed strips and adjacent fields
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Published source details
Frank T. (1997) Species diversity of ground beetles (Carabidae) in sown weed strips and adjacent fields. Biological Agriculture & Horticulture, 15, 297-307.
Published source details Frank T. (1997) Species diversity of ground beetles (Carabidae) in sown weed strips and adjacent fields. Biological Agriculture & Horticulture, 15, 297-307.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Plant nectar flower mixture/wildflower strips Action Link |
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Plant nectar flower mixture/wildflower strips
A small replicated, controlled study in Switzerland (Frank 1997) found that ground beetle (Carabidae) species richness was not significantly higher in sown weed strips than in adjacent crops, but ground beetle species richness decreased with distance from the strips. The oldest weed strip (two years-old) contained the highest number of ground beetle species (10 species/trap), followed by the adjacent rape field (9/trap) and one of the one-year-old weed strips (9-10/trap), although the differences were not significant. The other one-year-old weed strip had 8 species/trap and other crops 6-8/trap. In 1992, numbers of ground beetle species in rape and wheat plots decreased with distance from weed strips (15% and 35% decreases respectively). Weed strips contained similar numbers of species in their first and second year. Three to five species were found only in the strips. Strips were sown with 25 weed species and were one (two strips) or two years old (one strip), they were not mown. Ground beetles were sampled using four pitfall traps/site, emptied every 14 days from April-September 1992 and 1993.
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