Improvement of overwintering sites for Carabidae, Staphylinidae and Araneae by strip-management in a cereal field

Published source details Lys J.A. & Nentwig W. (1994) Improvement of overwintering sites for Carabidae, Staphylinidae and Araneae by strip-management in a cereal field. Pedobiologia, 38, 238-242.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Plant nectar flower mixture/wildflower strips Action Link

Plant nectar flower mixture/wildflower strips

A replicated, controlled study in the winter of 1990-1991 in four within-field wildflower strips in a cereal field in the Bernese Seeland, Switzerland (Lys & Nentwig 1994) found more than four times higher densities and more than twice as many overwintering species of ground beetles (Carabidae), rove beetles (Staphylinidae) and spiders (Araneae) in sown wildflower strips than in the winter cereal areas between them. The proportion of ground beetle and rove beetle larvae was significantly higher in cereal fields than in the wildflower strips. Four wildflower strips (1.5 m-wide) were sown in 1989, 12, 24 and 36 m apart in one part of a winter cereal field. The remaining area of cereal field was used as a control. Strips were sown with a variety of wild flowering plants and left untreated for three years. Soil samples (diameter 10 cm, depth 20 cm) were taken eight times from December to March in the four strips and the three cereal areas between the wildflower strips. After hand-sorting all samples for arthropods, the samples were extracted in a Berlese apparatus for five days and then hand-sorted again. Beetles were determined to species level, spiders to family level. This study was performed within the same experimental site as Nentwig 1989, Lys & Nentwig 1992, Lys et al. 1994, Zangger et al. 1994.