The aim of this thesis is to work out a brief literary research focused on spatial distribution of carabid beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) around arable field-woodland boundaries throughout the season. Substantial part of this thesis consistsof thefield experiment aiming to explore given issue in the model area near Sedlčany. Carabid beetles were collected employing pitfall traps along four transects perpendicular to arable field-woodlot boundaries. Beetles were sampled during five sampling periods, but only four complete (undamaged) temporal samples series were used for final statistical analyses:1) early spring, 2) late spring, 3) summer and 4) late autumn.Three species groups were identified according to their habitat specialization:1) open habitat specialists, 2) habitat generalists and 3) forest specialists; and these groups were analysed seperately. Total species diversity was highest in area of ecotone between arable field and woodlot.The edge between habitats was preferred by habitat generalist species and open habitat specialist species also spilled over here. Distribution of relative species richness and relative activity density was not stable in time. Spatial distribution of forest species was relatively less variable. Open habitat species aggregated within habitat boundaries instead of field interiors in early spring, probably as a result of overwinteringbehaviour. Generalists were also aggregated in the edge between habitats in autumn period and during early spring occurred relatively more in the centre of woodlot than in other periods. Species composition of carabid beetles assemblages depended partly on season and also on position of transect. There was also a significant interaction between spatial and temporal variability in species composition of carabid assemblages. Woodlot assemblages seem to be less variable in time. The results of this thesis contribute to extension of knowledges on distribution of carabid beetles in agroecosystems, where many carabids act aspredators of various pests. The biggest changes in spatiotemporal distribution of carabid beetles in agricultural landscape could be linked with preference of adults to overwinter out of arable land.

A research, which was focused on a faunistic exploration of Carabidae, took place in the Protected landscape area of Bílé Karpaty (White Carpathians) in 2015. This research was conducted with ground traps. The ground traps were located in the forest biotope, more accurately in the border the forest and a meadow and on the dry and wet meadow. 652 individuals collectedduring 210 days lasting research were classified into 35 species. The most frequent species were those, which prefer shaded and moist habitats such as Carabus coriaceus, Poecilus cupreus and Carabus violaceus. For each biotope was calculated the dominance, the diversity index, the equitability and was determined species similarity. This basis continued by the assessment of actual managemant area. This creates that the actual managemant does not affect negative changes on the current status of the habitat.

The aim of this thesis is to establish species diversity of ground beetles within the area of Mašovice stone quarry. This recultivated quarry has been declared the national monument in December 28, 2013 and is also placed to the list of nationally important localities in Europe in the Framework of protected areas Natura 2000. The main reason for its incorporation is its being the most important locality where the Italian crested newt (Triturus carnifex) occurs within the confines of the Czech Republic. In three diverse biotopes, grounded formaldehyde traps with small roof were placed and in which the whole spectrum of epigeic fauna was caught in the period from April to September 2014. Only the representatives of the ground beetles family (Carabidae) were determined and only them were evaluated through the synecological characteristic, such as dominance, Simpson's index, species diversity, equitability and Jaccard's index of similarity.

Malgré des inconvénients rédhibitoires, l’utilisation de molluscicides reste prédominante dans les stratégies de lutte contre les gastéropodes terrestres, une situation qui appelle au développement d’alternatives. Bien que les gastéropodes terrestres reposent essentiellement sur la chémodétection pour la réalisation d’un grand nombre d’interactions capitales avec leur environnement, leur perception de la prédation reste largement méconnue malgré son importance écologique. Nous avons donc étudié l’altération de comportements de maintenance chez deux espèces de gastéropodes terrestres nuisibles, la limace Deroceras reticulatum et l’escargot Xeropicta derbentina, en présence de composés chimiques issus de différentes espèces de carabes, une catégorie importante de prédateurs mallacophages. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que les caractéristiques écologiques des prédateurs sont cruciales dans la perception de la pertinence de la menace par ces gastéropodes.

L’agroforesterie, et plus particulièrement les systèmes sylvo-arables, sont des systèmes peu étudiés qui présentent des intérêts agronomiques et environnementaux en systèmes tempérés. Les systèmes agroforestiers pourraient notamment fournir un microclimat favorable aux cultures maraîchères conduites en agriculture biologique en contexte pédoclimatique méditerranéen. Cependant, il existe encore peu de références scientifiques sur le sujet, et l’issue des interactions entre arbres et cultures sont encore me connues. En particulier, le microclimat généré par des arbres âgés est susceptible de modifier les relations entre cultures, bio agresseurs et pré dateurs généralistes, qui peuvent conditionner la performance d’une association agroforestière. Cette thèse avait donc comme objectifs :➢ D’évaluer l’impact de l’ouverture de la canopée sur la biodiversité et l’activité densite des coléoptères carabiques.➢ D’identifier comment le microclimat peut influencer les processus de régulation naturelle.Les systèmes agroforestiers se développent sur des temps longs (pluriannuels): l’étude s’est focalisée sur un système ayant déjà des arbres âgés de 20 ans pour en étudier l’impact sur le microclimat et la faune du sol. Pour faire varier ce microclimat, un gradient d’ouverture de la canopée a été réalisé. La température de l’air ambiant, l’hygrométrie et le pourcentage d’ouverture du milieu ont ensuite été mesurés.En premier lieu, la faune du sol a été échantillonnée durant 2 ans (non révolus), et les structures des communautés de Carabidae ont été analysées d’un point de vue taxonomique et fonctionnelle, au moyen de 5 traits écologiques. Les résultats montrent que la structure taxonomique est peu affectée, mais qu’à la fois l’activité-densité spécifique des espèces et les traits fonctionnels sont modifiés par le gradient d’ouverture du milieu. En particulier, la fermeture de la canopée du système agroforestier favorise les espèces ayant une affinité pour des milieux fermés et humides.L’activité journalière de deux prédateurs abondants a été caractérisée dans une période estivale chaude (juillet), et plus douce (septembre). Les résultats montrent qu’à la fois la saison mais également l’ouverture de la canopée peuvent modifier les rythmes journaliers de l’Arachnidae et du Carabidae les plus abondants à cette période (Pardosa hortensis, Pseudoophonus rufipes).Dans un troisième temps, le travail s’est focalisé sur le potentiel de prédation des prédateurs de la faune du sol, au moyen de cartes sentinelles de prédation à deux périodes estivales, juin et aout. Les résultats montrent que sur au moins une période, le potentiel de prédation sur larves de lépidoptères (Cydia pomonella) est différent entre les traitements. Ces différences sont probablement corrélées aux différences d’activité-densité et aux différences microclimatiques induites par les différences de couverts arborés.Dans un dernier temps, l’étude s’est focalisée sur une culture, la salade, et les dégâts causés par les limaces dans les différents traitements, sur les feuilles visibles. Plus de dégâts sous les arbres ont été constatés, malgré une activité-densité d’Arion lusitanicus et de Deroceras reticulatum non supérieures au témoin au mois de juin où les dégâts ont fortement augmenté. Les méthodes utilisées (planches, pots pièges neutres et attractifs) ont présenté des efficacités différentes, dont l’intérêt respectif est discuté. / Agroforestry, and more specifically sylvo-arable systems, are poorly studied systems with agronomic and environmental interests in temperate systems. They could provide a favorable microclimate for vegetable crops grown in organic agriculture in Mediterranean pedoclimatic context. However, there are still few scientific references on the subject, and the outcome of the interactions between trees and cultures are still unknown. The microclimate generated by old trees is likely to alter the relations between crops, pests and generalist predators, which can condition the performance of an agroforestry system.This thesis had two main objectives:• To evaluate the impact of canopy openness on ground beetle diversity and activity-density• Identify how the microclimate can influence natural regulation processes.Agroforestry systems develop over long periods (pluriannual): the study focused on a system already having 20-year-old trees to study the impact on microclimate and soil fauna. To modulate this microclimate, a canopy opening gradient has been realized. The ambient air temperature, the hygrometry and the percentage of canopy aperture were then measured.First, the soil fauna was sampled for 2 years and the structure of the Carabidae communities was analyzed from a taxonomic and functional point of view, using 5 ecological traits. The results show that the taxonomic structure is poorly affected, but that both species specific activity-density and functional traits are modified by the canopy openness, which favored species with affinity for closed and moist environments.The diel activity of two abundant predators was characterized in a hot summer period (July), and cooler (September). The results show that both the season and the opening of the canopy can modify the daily rhythms of the most abundant Arachnidae and Carabidae (Pardosa hortensis, Pseudoophonus rufipes).Thirdly, the work focused on the predation potential of predators of soil fauna, using sentinel preys method at two periods, (June and August). The results show that for at least one period, the predation potential on Lepidoptera larvae (Cydia pomonella) was different between treatments. These differences are probably correlated with differences in activity-density and microclimatic differences induced by the differences in canopy treatmentLastly, the study focused on lettuce crops and the damage caused by slugs in the different treatments, on the visible leaves. More damage under the trees was observed, despite a similar activity- density of Arion lusitanicus and Deroceras reticulatum compared to control in June, where the damage increased significantly. The methods used (boards, neutral traps and attractive traps) presented different efficiencies, whose respective interest is discussed.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-04-25Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:42:56Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 martins_icf_dr_jabo.pdf: 4264594 bytes, checksum: 8d2c087dcb45096b62998afb741a1d4b (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal avaliar o controle biológico conservativo através da criação de área de refúgio em um agroecossistema. A área de estudo foi estabelecida em um hectare com a área de refúgio apresentando 80 m de comprimento e constituída por quatro canteiros de 20 m, cada um deles contendo uma das seguintes espécies de planta herbácea perene: Panicum maximum cv. Massai e Cynodon spp. cv. Tifton 85 (gramíneas) e Stylosanthes spp. cv. BRS Campo Grande e Calopogonium mucunoides cv. Comum (leguminosas). Os artrópodes foram amostrados por meio de armadilhas de solo tipo alçapão. Todas as análises foram realizadas com as espécies consideradas predominantes classificadas de acordo com a abundância, freqüência, constância e dominância. Utilizou-se análise de regressão múltipla com seleção de variáveis “stepwise” para verificar a influência dos fatores meteorológicos na variação populacional. As fases fenológicas da soja e milho foram determinadas e relacionadas com a flutuação populacional. Para determinar a distribuição espacial os dados foram analisados através dos índices de dispersão e modelos probabilísticos. A visualização da distribuição e influência da área de refúgio foi verificada por mapa de interpolação linear. Um total de 79.633 espécimes e 514 espécies de artrópodes foram coletados. Os himenópteros e os coleópteros foram os grupos mais diversificados e abundantes, com destaque para os formicídeos e carabídeos. Os refúgios com as plantas Stylosanthes spp. e Panicum maximum apresentaram maior diversidade e abundância de artrópodes. A maioria dos artrópodes associados ao solo considerados predominantes apresentou distribuição agregada. Muitos destes, principalmente artrópodes predadores, se agruparam próximo ou na área de refúgio / The objective of this study was to evaluate the conservation biological control through the creation of beetle bank in an agroecosystem. The study was conducted in one hectare with a 80 m long refuge area, with four blocks of 20 m., in each block one species of perennial herbaceous plant was planted: Panicum maximum cv. Masai and Cynodon spp. cv. Tifton 85 (grasses) and Stylosanthes spp. cv. BRS Campo Grande and Calopogonium mucunoides cv. Common (legumes). The Arthropods were sampled by pitfall traps. All analyses were performed with the predominant species considered classified according to the abundance, frequency, constancy, and dominance. We used multiple regression analysis with variable selection stepwise to assess the influence of meteorological factors in population. The soybean and corn phenological stages were determined and related to population fluctuation. To determine the spatial distribution, data were analyzed using dispersion indices and probabilistic models based on the frequency distribution of the arthropods. The illustration of the distribution and influence of the beetle bank was verified by linear interpolation map. A total of 79,633 specimens and 514 species of arthropods were collected. The Hymenoptera and Coleoptera were more diverse and abundant, specially ants and ground beetles. The refuges with plants Stylosanthes spp. and Panicum maximum showed greater diversity and abundance of arthropods. Aggregated distribution was showed for most predominant arthropods associated with soil. Many of these, mainly predatory arthropods, clustered near or in the beetle bank

Malgré des inconvénients rédhibitoires, l’utilisation de molluscicides reste prédominante dans les stratégies de lutte contre les gastéropodes terrestres, une situation qui appelle au développement d’alternatives. Bien que les gastéropodes terrestres reposent essentiellement sur la chémodétection pour la réalisation d’un grand nombre d’interactions capitales avec leur environnement, leur perception de la prédation reste largement méconnue malgré son importance écologique. Nous avons donc étudié l’altération de comportements de maintenance chez deux espèces de gastéropodes terrestres nuisibles, la limace Deroceras reticulatum et l’escargot Xeropicta derbentina, en présence de composés chimiques issus de différentes espèces de carabes, une catégorie importante de prédateurs mallacophages. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que les caractéristiques écologiques des prédateurs sont cruciales dans la perception de la pertinence de la menace par ces gastéropodes. / Despite crippling drawbacks, molluscicides remain predominant in strategies employed against terrestrial gastropods pests, a situation that call for the development of alternatives. Although chemodetection drive many crucial interactions in terrestrial gastropods, their perception of predation remains largely unknown despite its ecological importance. We investigated the alteration of self-maintenance behaviours of two harmful land gastropods, the slug Derocers reticulatum and the snail Xeropicta derbentina, exposed to chemical compounds from different ground beetle species, an important category of gastropod predators. The results obtained indicate that the ecological features of the predators are crucial for the perception of the relevance of the predation threat by these gastropods.

Arthropod predators often use prey and conspecific cues to make foraging decisions. Calosoma wilcoxi (Leconte) is a voracious predatory beetle that specializes on lepidopteran larvae often found in the forest canopy, including the fall cankerworm. This study tested the hypothesis that C. wilcoxi uses olfactory cues to detect prey and conspecifics. A Y-tube olfactometer was used to test attractiveness to larvae, larval frass, conspecific cues, and volatiles from herbivore-damaged white oak leaves. C. wilcoxi did not preferentially choose the treatment in any of the experiments. There was no difference in mean time spent in the treatment or control arm for any of the cues assayed. The time to choose the treatment was significantly shorter in the female conspecific experiment only. I found no evidence that C. wilcoxi uses olfaction to locate prey; however, C. wilcoxi is attracted to conspecifics. C. wilcoxi may use conspecific cues to make informed foraging decisions.

Rhadine is a Nearctic lineage of flightless ground beetles in the tribe Platynini notable for the slender and elongate habitus of the adults and, in the Southwest, the habitat preferences of many species, with several mountaintop endemics as well as microphthalmous species known from caves in central Texas. The genus is in need of a modern taxonomic revision as species identifications remain challenging, and a phylogenetic hypothesis for the overall structure of the group is needed in order to better understand the group's evolutionary history and test whether subterranean Rhadine are a monophyletic clade or not. To this end, a multigene phylogeny of Rhadine was inferred based on ~2.4-kb of aligned nucleotide sites from 3 molecular markers: cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), 28S ribosomal DNA (28S), and carbamoylphosphate synthetase domain of the rudimentary gene (CAD). These gene fragments were obtained for 30 species or putative species of Rhadine as well as from members of their putative sister group, Tanystoma. Rhadine as currently circumscribed is reconstructed as paraphyletic with two species of subterranean beetles from caves in northern Mexico being resolved outside of Rhadine + Tanystoma. Rhadine sensu stricto (s. str.) is resolved with high support across analyses and is composed of two reciprocally monophyletic clades, clade I and II, the second of which is generally recovered in most analyses. Clade I includes those Rhadine with adult morphological characters defining the dissecta-, larvalis-, and subterranea-groups as well as a clade of macropthalmous subterranean perlevis-group species. Clade II, although not as robust as clade I, contains several surface-dwelling species from the western United States in the jejuna-, nivalis-, and perlevis-groups in addition to lineages of exclusively macropthalmous subterranean Rhadine. The troglobitic, cave-restricted, Rhadine classified in the subterranea-group are reconstructed in two different clades, and the clade contained within clade I also includes several species of large-eyed cavernicolous Rhadine. Those with a slender habitus (e.g., R. exilis, R. subterranea, R. austinica) evolved independently at least three times. Major biogeographic and evolutionary patterns based on these molecular results include: subterranea-group Rhadine north of the Colorado River in Texas (which all lack lateral pronotal setae) are found to comprise a monophyletic group, beetles in caves south of the Colorado River likely form another monophyletic group, and the "species pairs" of troglobitic Rhadine known to occur in the same caves that were sampled in our study are not resolved as each other's closest relatives suggesting that these caves were colonized independently by more than one lineage of Rhadine. The fine-scale attention given to populations of Rhadine isolated on mountain tops in the Madrean Sky Island region suggests that there is a great deal of genetic diversity among these lineages. In addition, these populations are resolved as reciprocally monophyletic with high support across all analyses. Haplotype networks constructed for these populations and compared with those of other described species for the same gene fragments reveal similar genetic distances between separate Sky Island Rhadine as compared to distances between described species from throughout the tree. Preliminary divergence time estimates of the Rhadine-Tanystoma lineage based on relaxed molecular clock analyses support a Miocene age for Rhadine and the Rhadine-Tanystoma lineage, with the crown ages of clade I and II being similar though not identical. All subterranean clade I Rhadine are dated to have begun diversifying within approximately the past 5 million years (Pliocene), an age that is compatible with the stratigraphy of the caves in the Balcones Escarpment. In addition, divergence estimates for the members of this clade support the climactic relict hypothesis, as they diversified during rapid temperature fluctuations during the Quaternary. However, the ages of the high altitude Sky Island Rhadine are estimated to be older than the most recent glacial maximum, suggesting that these distinct clades are considerably older than initially thought. We also performed character correlation tests using our phylogeny to test for patterns in form associated with cave habit and did not find statistical significance between subterranean habit and microphthalmy nor habit and development of the foveae of the mentum.Morphological characters that have been traditionally used to classify the genus into species groups were shown to be convergent in many cases. Despite these well-supported molecular clades, few morphological characters are consistent across all members, posing a challenge to the construction of identification tools. Nevertheless, a tentative update to the classification based on our findings is presented, and the future goals for reconstructing the phylogeny of Rhadine are discussed.

There is very low tolerance for blueberry maggot (Rhagoletis mendax Curran) in blueberries making it a serious pest in eastern North America. Control is focused on eliminating flies with insecticides before oviposition in fruit. Organic mulches may improve highbush blueberry production, but their effects on this pest are largely unknown. The research in this thesis evaluated compost and pine needle mulches on blueberry maggot (mature maggots, pupae, emerging flies) and predatory beetles that may consume these stages. Mulches affected fly emergence and maggot pupation. Fly emergence was reduced by 80-100% and delayed ~8 days from pupae covered with 20 cm of pine needles compared to 1 cm of soil. Emergence from 20 cm of compost was lower in wet conditions, and 5 cm of mulch did not limit emergence in the field. Pupation at increased depth reduced emergence because flies did not eclose or, if eclosed, were unable to crawl to the surface. The delay was likely due to lower temperatures at depth. No flies emerged from 1 cm in pine needles in the field probably due to high temperatures. In the laboratory, maggots pupated more deeply in pine needles than other substrates, but ~30% did not pupate in dry pine needles. Saturated soil caused ~50% of maggots to pupate on the surface. Mulching altered beetle diversity and activity/density and affected beetle predation on maggots and pupae. Compost plots in a highbush blueberry field attracted predatory carabids and staphylinids, although some staphylinids were frequent in pine needles and phytophagous carabids preferred unweeded compost plots. Attraction to compost, particularly for Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger), was due primarily to higher prey densities - earthworms and millipedes - than other treatments. This beetle consumed some maggots or pupae in soil or compost, but predation rates decreased when alternative prey was abundant. Blueberry bushes in weedy compost plots attracted many flies, but infestation rates were higher in composted bushes only in the year mulch was applied. Overall, thick mulching with pine needles contributes most significantly to blueberry maggot management. Future research should explore integration of mulch with other tactics for R. mendax control.