EFFECTS OF GRASSY BANKS ON THE DISPERSAL OF SOME CARABID BEETLES (COLEOPTERA, CARABIDAE) ON FARMLAND

Mark-recapture experiments in replicated experimental plots were used to assess the relative effects of a barley crop and two widths of a field boundary on the field-to-field movement of three carabid species. Movement of Harpalus rufipes, Pterostichus melanarisu and P. niger was slower through a grassy bank than through a barley crop, indicating that the bank had a lower permeability to these species than the crop. Other variables affecting the movement of carabids through the field boundary were species, dietary condition and width of the field boundary. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the dynamics of carabid dispersal on farmland.