Carabid beetles (Carabidae) in agroecosystems - case study on the effects of conversion to organic farming and land structure

Summary

Our research compared the effects of farming systems (conventional, conversion to organic farming, resp. organic farming) and land structures (ecotones) on carabid beetles in four experimental plots during a five-year crop rotation cycle. An important factor affecting the composition of carabid communities was the type of land fragmentation contributing to a faster colonization of fields from ecotones. The factor of agricultural management, organic farming, was also significant. In the final years of the experiment we noted changes in the species composition of the carabid communities compared with the first years of the experiment, with an increase in the preference of bigger carabid species. The abundance of large carabid species was much lower in conventional fields.