Local management and landscape structure determine the assemblage patterns of spiders in vegetable fields.

ABSTRACT: Both field- and landscape-scale factors can influence the predator communities of agricultural pests, but the relative importance and interactions between these scales are poorly understood. Focusing on spiders, an important taxon for providing biological control, we tested the influence of field- and landscape-scale factors on structuring the spider communities in a highly dynamic brassica agroecosystem. We found that local factors (pesticide-use and crop type) and forested landscape significantly influenced the abundance and species richness of spiders, whilst grassland patches significantly affected the spider species richness. Correlation results demonstrated that assemblage patterns of most spider families positively responded to the interplay between local factors and forest patches

SUBMITTER: Saqib HSA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7493935 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature