Habitat Preference and Community Assemblages of Carabid Beetles in Wheat Fields

Abstract

Biocontrol is an important ecosystem service worth billions of dollars to agricultural systems. Many studies have investigated the conservation of natural enemies via habitat management and have found that adjacent habitats can greatly affect natural predator populations. Specifically, adjacent habitats have been shown to increase natural enemy abundance and diversity by providing additional food, shelter and overwintering sites. In this study, we investigated the movement of a common generalist predator, carabid beetles, between wheat fields and adjacent crop habitats (corn and soybean) and non-crop habitats (forest and grassy-roadside) in Alma, Michigan