Ground beetle conservation biocontrol: Potential for pest control ecosystem services using predation activity and trait-based analysis

Neame, Tobyn J.

Ground beetle conservation biocontrol: Potential for pest control ecosystem services using predation activity and trait-based analysis

dc.contributor.advisor	Galpern, Paul
dc.contributor.author	Neame, Tobyn J.
dc.contributor.committeemember	Summers, Mindi
dc.contributor.committeemember	Ciborowski, Jan
dc.date.accessioned	2023-12-11T16:29:09Z
dc.date.available	2023-12-11T16:29:09Z
dc.date.issued	2023-12-08
dc.description.abstract	Removal of non-crop vegetation (e.g., forest and grassland patches) to expand crop fields threatens the natural enemies of crop pests, like the ground beetle family (Coleoptera: Carabidae), that may use these areas for overwintering. An argument for maintaining non-crop vegetation is its potential to support the supply of ecosystem services, such as pest control, to the surrounding crop. A common proxy for this service is the activity-density of natural enemy species. Evidence that predators like ground beetles are attacking pests in crops has been less frequently studied as have the mechanisms for why non-crop vegetation may influence pest predation within the crop. Studying the traits of natural enemies that are both impacted by the environment and affect their predation activity, may provide a mechanism for how non-crop vegetation influences pest control. Traits, like the size of carabids, may influence both their dispersal from non-crop vegetation and their predatory activity. I sampled a gradient of distances from non-crop vegetation in 20 field sites. I estimated the potential for pest attacks by carabids through bite marks on sentinel prey (plasticine ‘caterpillars’ made to look like potential prey items) and measured the body size of 20,407 carabids. I also conducted prey choice experiments with the carabid Pterostichus melanarius. Generalized additive models show that the frequency of bite marks increased to 50 m into the crop before declining at 100 m, but carabids in pitfall traps increased linearly as distance from non-crop vegetation increased. Results also showed the smallest six quantiles of carabids increased in size with distance from non-crop vegetation areas and larger P. melanarius showed a trend towards preying upon larger prey than smaller prey, though we could not reject a null hypothesis of no effect (alpha=0.05; P=0.08). These findings show predation activity may be associated with non-crop vegetation and the carabid community size distribution, rather than being predicted by activity-density. These findings support conservation of non-crop vegetation to support the predation of a diverse array of pests.
dc.identifier.citation	Neame, T. J. (2023). Ground beetle conservation biocontrol: potential for pest control ecosystem services using predation activity and trait-based analysis (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/117705
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Science
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Carabidae
dc.subject	biocontrol
dc.subject	spill-over
dc.subject	ecosystem service
dc.subject	sentinel prey
dc.subject	activity-density
dc.subject	functional trait
dc.subject	response-effect
dc.subject.classification	Ecology
dc.subject.classification	Entomology
dc.title	Ground beetle conservation biocontrol: Potential for pest control ecosystem services using predation activity and trait-based analysis
dc.type	master thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Biological Sciences
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Master of Science (MSc)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.