The role of intercropping on insects diversity in dryland field crops in a Mediterranean site

Summary

This work aims to evaluate the effect of crop type and density on insects’ community in the Mediterranean re-gion. In winter of 2004, four 35m x 10m blocks (replicates) were delimited and 24 equidistant 2m x 3m plots were marked. Seven crop types (barley, vetch, turnip, barley-vetch, barley-turnip, vetch-turnip and barley-vetch-turnip) at three densities were randomly established within each block. Fifteen crop shoots per plot were randomly collected in May to evaluate insect’s abundance and diversity. Our results suggest that inter-crop has a positive effect on abundance of most exam-ined groups of insects and diversity, specifically when vetch is incorporated in the mixture. Changes in abun-dance of aphids, trips and ants are also discussed connected with vetch presence.