Eur. J. Entomol. 103 (2): 361-364, 2006 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2006.048

Consumption of fresh and buried seed by ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

Zdenka MARTINKOVÁ, Pavel SASKA, Alois HONĚK
Research Institute of Crop Production, Drnovská 507, CZ-16106 Praha 6 - Ruzyně, Czech Republic; e-mail: martinkova@vurv.cz

Ground beetles (Carabidae: Coleoptera) are predators of the seed of herbaceous plants scattered on the ground, but prefer that of certain species. Foraging beetles encounter both freshly dispersed and seed exhumed from the soil bank. The predation on seed from the soil bank has never been studied and the effect of burial on seed acceptability is unknown. The preferences of two generalist granivorous carabids, Harpalus affinis and Pseudoophonus rufipes, were investigated by offering them fresh (stored frozen after dispersal) and buried (for 6 months in the soil under field conditions) seed of six common weed species. Significantly more of the buried seed of Tripleurospermum inodorum and significantly less of that of Taraxacum officinale was eaten than fresh seed. For four other weed species the consumption of both kinds of seed did not differ. The preferences were similar in both species of carabid. The change in preference probably occurred because the seed of T. officinale was partially decayed and the repellent surface of T. inodorum seed abraded. Provided the seed in the soil bank does not decay it may have a similar or better food value for carabids than fresh seed.

Keywords: Seed predation, soil seed bank, preference, Carabidae, Harpalus affinis, Pseudoophonus rufipes, weed

Received: July 27, 2005; Revised: November 2, 2005; Accepted: November 2, 2005; Published: April 6, 2006  Show citation

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MARTINKOVÁ, Z., SASKA, P., & HONĚK, A. (2006). Consumption of fresh and buried seed by ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae). EJE, 103(2), 361-364. doi: 10.14411/eje.2006.048
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