Diversity and Dominant Species of Ground Beetle Assemblages (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in Crop Rotation and Chemical Input Systems for the Northern Great Plains

Abstract

Dominant carabid species present in crops and crop rotation sequences commonly used in the northern Great Plains were assessed as an initial step toward the management of carabids as natural control agents. Ground beetle populations were determined by pitfall trapping in 4 crop rotation treatments maintained under high, managed, and low levels of chemical fertilizer and pesticide inputs. Diversity and species richness among crops, rotations, and input levels were compared using 3 indices—the Shannon-Weaver Index, relative diversity, and the Hierarchical Richness Index (HRI). Four carabid species, Cyclotrachelus altemans (Casey), Poecilvs lucublandus Say, Harpalns pensylvanicus (DeGeer), and Bembidion quadrimaculatum L., comprising ≈80% of the total collected, were considered dominant species. When carabid abundance data were grouped by crop, C. altemans was the dominant species in corn and alfalfa and P. lucublandus was dominant in wheat. In soybean plots, C. altemans and P. lucublandus were equally abundant. The relative abundance of H. pensylvanicus was highest in the low-input plots. High values of HRI for carabid diversity and species richness in the managed plots suggested that reduced chemical inputs encouraged greater abundance and diversity of beneficial carabids than were found in the high-input plots without the loss of yield seen in the low-input plots.