Impact of Different Methods of Wheat Cultivation on the Occurrence of Carabidae Family Representatives (Carabidae, Coleoptera)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of different methods of wheat cultivation on the occurrence of Carabidae (Coleoptera, Carabidae). The collection was carried out during a three-year period from 2016 to 2018, on research areas in Borovce, which belong to the Research Institute of Plant Production (VÚRV) in Piešťany. The collection of epigeic material was done in five variants: V1: mulching technique; V2: conventional technique; V3: minimization technique; V4: no-till technique; and ECO: ecological technique. During the three-year period, we obtained 11,362 specimens from eight epigeic groups. Out of all the epigeic groups, the dominant order was Coleoptera with the number of individuals 7593. We addressed the Coleoptera order in more detail. It was represented by six families, of which the Carabidae family was dominant. We recorded 6656 specimens from the mentioned family, of which we determined 20 species. The eudominant species were Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger, 1798) and Pseudoophonus rufipes (DeGeer, 1774) throughout the whole period on all types of variants. Based on the specimens obtained, we calculated the values of dominance, frequency, species similarity of communities, diversity of communities and statistically evaluated the correlation of the impact of meteorological factors and the occurrence of Carabidae.