Some effects of grass weed control on the arthropod fauna of cereals.

Abstract

In both 1973 and 1974 two 5 ha parts of a field of winter barley were sprayed either with mecoprop or a mixture of metoxuron and simazine. The elimination of Poa trivialis in the second treatment resulted in a significant reduction in the numbers of 16 of the 49 arthropod taxa considered; the largest difference was in the numbers of Staphylinidae (Tachyporus spp.). Cereal aphids were the only arthropods which were significantly more abundant in the metoxuron and simazine plots and it is possible that some of this difference could be attributed to reduced predation in these plots.

The elimination of P. trivialis reduced the biomass of insects useful to partridges by 43%. On a large scale this effect would further reduce the survival of their chicks.