ARTHROPOD BIODIVERSITY ON CONVENTIONAL AND ORGANIC STRAWBERRY

Interest in the biodiversity on strawberry arises from the possible advantages of more diverse fauna and flora in terms of plant protection.
As a first step to evaluate possible advantages, we identified spider and insect species found on vegetation and soil surface.
The material was collected by beating tray and pitfall trap methods from 10 organic and 26 conventional fields.
A total of 615 insect and 135 spider species or species groups were identified.
Most of the species were considered as indifferent, random visitors or species connected either to weeds or alley plants growing in the field.
Predatory carabid, coccinellid and staphylinid beetles, predatory bugs, lacewings and numerous parasitoids were recorded as beneficial species.
The species richness was higher in organic fields, but there were big differences even between fields within the same production category.

IV International Strawberry Symposium

T. Tuovinen, T. Tolonen

Insects, spiders, beating tray samples, pitfall trap samples, natural enemies

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.567.144