In‐field cover crop strips support carabid communities and shape the ecological trait repartition in maize fields

Abstract

Abstract The enhancement of pest regulation service in crops depends for a large part on the capacity of agroecological practices to increase the presence of key species or functional traits in arthropod communities within fields. We investigated the effects of undestroyed strips of winter cover crops in maize fields on carabid community composition, and on the distribution of three ecological traits: diet, wing status and body size. We found that the community composition and the distribution of ecological traits in the in‐field cover crop strips had commonalities with both adjacent cropped areas and field margins. Some species were recorded mostly or only in the strips indicating that strips could support carabid species and help increase local diversity from the first year of establishment. The activity‐density of Poecilus cupreus and Pterostichus melanarius was higher in the cropped proximity of the strip, and the body size was influenced by the distance from the strip. Our results suggest that carabid communities are shaped by the habitat type, but the influence of such agroecological infrastructures on communities of adjacent crops is minor beyond a distance of 10 m. However, overall species abundance was increased and thus potentially provided enhanced pest regulation.