Abstract:
Border crops can increase beneficial insect biodiversity within agricultural fields by supplementing insects with food and nesting resources. However, the effectiveness of border crops relies on insect movement between adjacent habitats and some insects might consider habitat boundaries as barriers. Therefore, understanding insect movement between habitats is needed to determine the effectiveness of border crops for ecosystem services such as pest control within agricultural habitats. Our objective was to compare ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) movement across soybean plots that were bordered by corn and grassland habitat to determine whether habitat boundaries were considered barriers of movement to predatory beetles. Using a grid of pitfall traps within these habitats, we conducted a mark, release, and recapture experiment to track and evaluate ground beetle movement patterns. We found that ground beetles stayed in the habitat of their release and that movement between habitats, despite the type of bordering habitat or type of edge, was uncommon. We also found that long-distance movement was rare as most beetles moved less than 5 m (regardless of release or recaptured habitat) and movement was perpendicular to habitat edges. These results suggest that any edge habitat, including agricultural-agricultural boundaries and natural-agricultural boundaries, are likely barriers to ground beetle movement. Therefore, in order for border crops to be effective in pest management by ground beetles, making habitat edges more permeable, especially using techniques such as edge softening, could promote cross-habitat movement and ultimately contribute to natural pest control in agricultural systems.
摘要:
边境作物可以通过向昆虫补充食物和筑巢资源来增加农田中有益的昆虫生物多样性。然而,边境作物的有效性依赖于相邻栖息地之间的昆虫移动,一些昆虫可能认为栖息地边界是障碍。因此,需要了解栖息地之间的昆虫运动,以确定边界作物对生态系统服务的有效性,例如农业栖息地内的害虫控制。我们的目标是比较与玉米和草地栖息地接壤的大豆地块之间的地面甲虫(鞘翅目:Carabidae)运动,以确定栖息地边界是否被视为掠食性甲虫运动的障碍。利用这些栖息地内的陷阱网格,我们进行了标记,释放,并重新捕获实验,以跟踪和评估地面甲虫的运动模式。我们发现地面甲虫停留在它们释放的栖息地和栖息地之间的运动,尽管边界栖息地的类型或边缘的类型,不常见。我们还发现,长距离移动很少,因为大多数甲虫移动不到5m(无论释放或重新捕获的栖息地),并且移动垂直于栖息地边缘。这些结果表明,任何边缘栖息地,包括农业-农业边界和自然-农业边界,可能是地面甲虫运动的障碍。因此,为了使边境作物有效地控制地面甲虫的病虫害,使栖息地边缘更具渗透性,特别是使用边缘软化等技术,可以促进跨生境运动,并最终有助于农业系统中的自然虫害防治。