The effects of agricultural practices on Carabidae in temperate agroecosystems

Published source details Holland J.M. & Luff M.L. (2000) The effects of agricultural practices on Carabidae in temperate agroecosystems. Integrated Pest Management Reviews, 5, 109-129.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Plant new hedges Action Link
	Create beetle banks Action Link
	Undersow spring cereals, with clover for example Action Link
	Create beetle banks Action Link
	Use organic rather than mineral fertilizers Action Link
	Plant grass buffer strips/margins around arable or pasture fields Action Link
	Reduce tillage Action Link
	Reduce fertilizer, pesticide or herbicide use generally Action Link
	Plant nectar flower mixture/wildflower strips Action Link

Plant new hedges

A 2000 literature review (Holland & Luff 2000) looked at which agricultural practices can be altered to benefit ground beetles (Carabidae). It included one study (Fournier & Loreau 1999), which is outlined above, that found a greater diversity of ground beetles near newly planted hedges. Another study (El Titi 1991), of whole farming systems, found lower pest outbreaks in areas with new hedges on farms managed under integrated farming.
Additional references:
El Titi A. (1991) The Lautenbach project 1978-89: integrated wheat production on a commercial arable farm, south-west Germany. Pages 209-231 in: L.G. Firbank, N. Carter, J.F. Darbyshire and G.R. Potts (eds.) The Ecology of Temperate Cereal Fields, Blackwell, Oxford.
Create beetle banks

A 2000 literature review (Holland & Luff 2000) looked at which agricultural practices can be altered to benefit ground beetles (Carabidae). It found three studies, two in the UK ((Thomas et al. 1991) (Collins et al. 1996)) and one in Denmark (a PhD thesis), showing higher ground beetle numbers in arable fields close to beetle banks.
Undersow spring cereals, with clover for example

A 2000 literature review (Holland & Luff 2000) looked at which agricultural practices can be altered to benefit ground beetles (Carabidae). It found just one study (Vickerman 1978) showing that some ground beetle species benefit from undersowing spring cereals, and that emergence the following spring is higher than in cereal fields.
Create beetle banks

A literature review in 2000 (Holland & Luff 2000) found three studies that showed higher numbers of ground beetles (Carabidae) in fields adjacent to beetle banks (Thomas et al. 1991, Riedel 1992, Collins et al. 1996).
Additional reference:
Riedel, W. (1992) Hibernation and spring dispersal of polyphagous predators in arable land. PhD thesis, Aarhus University.
Use organic rather than mineral fertilizers

A 2000 literature review (Holland & Luff 2000) looked at which agricultural practices can be altered to benefit ground beetles (Carabidae). It found four European studies (Purvis & Curry 1984, Hance & Gregoirewibo 1987, Humphreys & Mowat 1994, Idinger 1995) showing that adding organic manure or compost to agricultural soil increased the numbers of ground beetles relative to sites treated with mineral fertilizer.
Plant grass buffer strips/margins around arable or pasture fields

A 2000 literature review (Holland & Luff 2000) looked at which agricultural practices can be altered to benefit ground beetles (Carabidae). It found four European studies demonstrating that ground beetles use grassy strips (including one experimental study (Thomas & Marshall 1999)). The other three studies considered habitat use, rather than directly testing the intervention.
Reduce tillage

A 2000 literature review (Holland & Luff 2000) looked at which agricultural practices can be altered to benefit ground beetles (Carabidae). It found one study from Europe showing more ground beetles after non-inversion tillage (Heimbach & Garbe 1995). One European study found no effect of tillage on ground beetle numbers (Huusela-Veistola 1996). Two studies from Europe, showed that different species respond differently (Hance & Gregoire-Wibo 1987, (Kendall et al. 1995)).
Additional references:
Hance T. & Gregoire-Wibo C. (1987) Effect of agricultural practices on carabid populations. Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica, 22, 147-160.
Heimbach U. & Garbe V. (1995) Effects of reduced tillage systems in sugar beet on predatory and pest arthropods. Acta Jutlandica, 71, 195-208.
Huusela-Veistola E. (1996) Effects of pesticide use and cultivation techniques on ground beetles (Col, Carabidae) in cereal fields. Annales Zoologici Fennici, 33, 197-205.
Reduce fertilizer, pesticide or herbicide use generally

A 2000 literature review (Holland & Luff 2000) looked at which agricultural practices can be altered to benefit ground beetles (Carabidae). It found four European studies that examined the effect of reduced pesticide use on ground beetles. One, the UK SCARAB project (Frampton et al. 1994), found no long-term effect. The other three (Huusela-Veistola 1996, Büchs et al. 1997, Holland et al. 1998) found mixed effects.
Additional reference:
Holland J.M., Cook S.K., Drysdale A., Hewitt M.V., Spink J. & Turley D. (1998) The impact on non-target arthropods of integrated compared to conventional farming: results from the LINK Integrated Farming Systems project. 1998 Brighton Crop Protection Conference – Pests and Disease 2, 625-630.
Plant nectar flower mixture/wildflower strips

A 2000 literature review (Holland & Luff 2000) looked at which agricultural practices can be altered to benefit ground beetles (Carabidae). It found four studies (Nentwig 1989, Lys & Nentwig 1992, Lys & Nentwig 1994, Zangger et al. 1994), showing that wildflower strips increased ground beetle numbers in adjacent cereal fields.