%0 Conference Paper
%A Caballero, Berta
%A Romero, Albert
%A Perez, Nicolas
%A Ventura, Daniel
%A Chamorro, Lourdes
%A Goula, Marta
%A Sans, F.Xavier
%D 2006
%F orgprints:7509
%T The role of intercropping on insects diversity in dryland field crops in a Mediterranean site    
%U http://orgprints.org/7509/
%X 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.