Beneficial insects and spiders of arable farmland.

Abstract

Arable fields are home to between 1,500-3,000 different species of insects and spiders, many of which are beneficial, helping to control pests, pollinate flowers or assist with the breakdown of organic matter. These insects are also an essential food source for other farmland wildlife including birds, bats, small mammals, amphibians and reptiles. This chapter covers the predatory and parasitic insects and spiders (beneficial arthropods) that aid pest control in arable crops. Of those insects that feed on crops, relatively few ever cause economically important damage because their numbers are controlled by an army of beneficial arthropods and it is only when conditions occur that heavily favour the pest or their predators are reduced by agricultural operations, that pest outbreaks develop.