Search results for "harpalus affinis"

Effects of seed and carabid densities on the weed seed predation service

2017

National audience; Farming relies heavily on pesticides in order to maintain/increase crop production, yet, awareness of the adverse effects of pesticides on the environment and on biodiversity has triggered the search for alternative, non-chemical, pest management strategies. In arable systems, weeds remain one of the most challenging management issue. Recent research suggest that the depletion of weed seeds by naturally occurring seed consumers could impact the dynamics of problematic weeds and in temperate systems, carabid beetles are the main invertebrate consumers of weed seeds. However, predicting weed seed depletion rates in field conditions remains difficult, as carabid trophic resp…