EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
The European Journal of Environmental Sciences offers a mixture of original peer-reviewed research papers, which bring you some of the most exciting developments in environmental sciences in the broadest sense, often with an inter- or trans-disciplinary perspective, focused on the European problems. The journal also includes critical reviews on topical issues, and overviews of the status of environmental protection in particular regions or countries. The journal covers a broad range of topics, including direct or indirect interactions between abiotic or biotic components of the environment, interactions of environment with human society, or environmental sustainability.

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, Vol 1 No 1 (2011), 41–50

Influence of landscape structure on the functional groups of an aphidophagous guild: Active-searching predators, furtive predators and parasitoids

Julie-Éléonore Maisonhaute, Éric Lucas

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/23361964.2015.64
published online: 06. 12. 2011

abstract

A lot of studies focusing on the effect of agricultural landscapes demonstrate that many arthropod species are influenced by landscape structure. In particular, non–crop areas and landscape diversity are often associated with a higher abundance and diversity of natural enemies in fields. Numerous studies focused on the influence of landscape structure on ground beetles, spiders and ladybeetles but few on other natural enemies or different functional groups. Thus, the objective of the present study was to determine the influence of landscape structure on the functional groups, i.e., active-searching predators, furtive predators and parasitoids of aphidophagous guilds. Natural enemies were sampled on milkweed infested with aphids, growing along the borders of ditches adjacent to cornfields. The sampling occurred weekly from June to September in 2006 and 2007, in the region of Lanaudičre (Quebec, Canada). The landscapes within a radius 200 and 500 m around each site were analyzed. The abundance, richness and species composition (based on functional groups) of natural enemies were related to landscape structure. The results indicated that landscape structure explained up to 21.6% of the variation in natural enemy assemblage and confirm the positive effects of non-crop areas and landscape diversity. A lower influence of landscape structure on species composition was observed (6.4 to 8.8%) and varied greatly among the functional groups. Coccinellidae and furtive predators were the group most influenced by landscape structure. In conclusion, the influence of landscape varied greatly among the different species of the same functional group.

keywords: Aphidophagous predators; Cecidomyiidae; Coccinellidae; landscape diversity; milkweed; non-crop areas

Creative Commons License
Influence of landscape structure on the functional groups of an aphidophagous guild: Active-searching predators, furtive predators and parasitoids is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

210 x 297 mm
periodicity: 2 x per year
print price: 150 czk
ISSN: 1805-0174
E-ISSN: 2336-1964

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