Colunga-Garcia, M. and S.H. Gage
Presented at the ASM at Snowbird (2000-08-02 to 2017-12-05 )
Ecological management of agricultural systems requires a thorough understanding of the biological process that drive crop productivity. Insect predation constitutes a major biological process affected by environmental and management factors that fluctuate over several years. Long term studies of these organisms requires separation of long-term patterns from short-term patterns to discriminate between intrinsic and extrinsic causes of population fluctuations. The objective of our research has been to characterize long-term and short-term patterns of interactions between a group of predators (Coccinellids) and habitats typical in agricultural landscapes. A monitoring network of 210 sites has been placed since 1989 at geopositioned permanent locations in the KBS-LTER Main Site. Sampling has been conducted weekly from May to August of each year. This 12 year synthesis documents patterns of coccinellid species response to habitats in an agricultural landscape including the succession of species in Populus, the fluctuations of species diversity in secondary succession, the dominance of exotic species and their potential impact on native species, and the effect of agronomic management on species abundance/activity. Our results indicate that plant diversity impacts differently predator abundance depending on the spatial and temporal scale which (from field to landscape and from one season to several years).
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