Effects of crop rotation and genetically modified herbicide-tolerant corn on ground beetle diversity, community structure and activity density

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Spence, J.R.
  • Floate, K.
  • Blackshaw, R.E.
  • Bourassa, S.
  • Carcamo, H.A.

• Ground beetles (Coleoptera. Carabidae) were sampled in conventional and genetically modified herbicide-tolerant (GM HT) corn, Zea mays L. (Poaceae), planted under rotation with canola, Brassica L. (Brassicaceae), or continuously cropped corn to investigate the influence of corn variety and rotation on the structure of carabid assemblages Corn variety, cultivation regime, and their interaction all influenced overall carabid activity density. Weed management associated with corn variety influenced the activity density of a few carabid species and this was attributed to changes in vegetation. Some smaller bodied carabids such as Bembidion quadrimaculatum L. were less abundant in GM HT plots, probably because weed density was higher in midseason, but the opposite was observed for larger bodied carabids such as Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger). Overall, rotating corn with canola had a stronger effect on carabid community structure than did corn variety. We suggest that GM HT corn has little impact on the overall carabid fauna but may influence the activity of certain species through effects on the weed community.

• Date created

  2010

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Arthropods
  • Assemblages coleoptera
  • Weeds
  • Strip-management
  • Cereal fields
  • Invertebrate responses
  • Carabid beetles
  • Farm scale evaluations
  • Populations
  • Predation

• Type of Item

  Conference/Workshop Presentation

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3513TZ87

• License

  © 2010 Cambridge University Press. This version of this article is open access and can be downloaded and shared. The original author(s) and source must be cited.