Effects of Surrounding Environment and Management System in Apple Orchards on the Occurrence of Ground Beetles

Abstract

The aim of the observations was to determine the species composition of the Carabidae occurring in apple orchards with integrated and organic pest management, and to determine the impact of the surrounding areas on the Carabidae fauna appearing in those orchards. A total of 367 individuals of the Carabidae, representing 17 species from 15 genera, were collected in apple orchards with different management systems and surroundings. In both years of research, Carabidae beetles were the most numerous in the ecological orchard (142 specimens and species richness 5.8). Of the three orchards where integrated pest management was applied, the Carabidae most often occurred in the orchard with the most varied vegetation, withshrubs, trees and herbaceous plants in the neighbourhood (94 individuals). The lowest number of beetles, only 52 specimens, was reported for the site with the poorest vegetation in the neighbourhood (species richness 3.5). The species that dominated the carabid assemblages in the orchard habitats was Harpalus rufipes, which constituted more than 60%. In terms of the number of specimens, the hemizoophages constituted the dominant group among the collected Carabidae, and the highest number was found in the ecological orchard. The presence of refuge sites contributed to the increase in species richness of the Carabidae, whereas the use of chemical treatments in the IPM apple orchards negatively affected species richness and the number of carabids.

The Quantity and Quality Structure of Coccinellids (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) in Apple Orchards with Integrated and Ecological Management and in Their Surroundings

“…These results support the conclusions of other studies on the impact of field boundary vegetation on the presence of beneficial insects [2,3,23,24]. According to the authors, the surrounding vegetation seems to be crucial for predatory species, while Grez and Prado [3] suggested that coccinellids can be affected not only by the surrounding vegetation but also by plant patch shape.…”

“…It should be emphasized that in the case of coccinellids, the impact of the vegetation surrounding the orchards on the presence of ladybugs in the orchard was smaller than in the case of other beneficial insects fe. syrphids or carabids [18,23,24]. Moreover, orchard surroundings also had an influence on the number and species richness of the Coccinellidae.…”

Surrounding Semi-Natural Vegetation as a Source of Aphidophagous Syrphids (Diptera, Syrphidae) for Aphid Control in Apple Orchards

“…Although, in many cases, we failed to identify correlations between the syrphids occurring in the apple surroundings and those present in aphid colonies, based on current and previous researches [10,63], it can be concluded that even small clusters of flowering plants in the margins increase the abundance of beneficial insects within an orchard. The presence of trees and shrubs with herbaceous vegetation creates a suitable place for the development of the hoverflies (shelter and food), increasing their biodiversity.…”

Main conclusions and perspectives from the collective scientific assessment of the effects of plant protection products on biodiversity and ecosystem services along the land–sea continuum in France and French overseas territories

“…This work tends to underline the different but complementary levers and the fact that no one mitigation measure can completely neutralize the unintended effects of PPPs. The importance of more global landscape-level characteristics, not only in transfers but also in organism vulnerability and the capacity of ecosystems to recover from PPPs (e.g., presence of refuge areas or diversification of vegetation around and within cultivated plots) is also clearly demonstrated in the literature (e.g., Lee et al 2001;Wojciechowicz-Zytko and Wilk 2019;Geldenhuys et al 2021;Klaus et al 2021).…”