Effects of different grass treatments used to create overwintering habitat for predatory arthropods on arable farmland.

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate the suitability for overwintering of polyphagous arthropods of five different grass species (Arrhenatherum elatius, Dactylis glomerata, Phleum pratense, Festuca rubra and Cynosurus cristatus) and a natural regeneration treatment on mid-field overwintering refuges (beetle banks). Polyphagous predator density and composition differed significantly between the six treatments with A. elatius and D. glomerata supporting the highest predator densities and C. cristatus and the treatments left to regenerate naturally having the lowest. The results are discussed in terms of species composition within the different treatments, cost of creating a beetle bank, and the implications for the biological control of cereal aphids.