1. Cover crops and baby carabids
 How does larval environment shape a beneficial insect community?
Carmen Blubaugh, Cliff Sadof, and Ian Kaplan
Purdue University Department of Entomology

2. Why carabids? Ubiquitous Diverse Vegetable pest predators
Weed seed predators

3. Carabids weeds!
Weed management is the greatest challenge to vegetable farmers in Indiana (Hilger 2006).
Invertebrate seed predation is one of many components of an ecologically-based weed management strategy that may reduce hand labor.
Much work has focused on in-field habitat management (e.g. cover crops) for epigeal natural enemies in agroecosystems, especially weed seed predators (reviewed in Landis et al 2005).

4. Larvae are important! Very little is known about them. Goal:
That is, when they hatch, what they eat, where they live, etc.
Goal:
Learn basic biology of carabids in the larval state & evaluate how tillage regimes might help/harm them.

5. The Experiment: 4 fall cover crop treatments– 4 reps, randomized split design (tilled and planted in fall 2011) 2 tillage subplot treatments (nt & spring/fall till)
Oriental mustard
Rye
Fallow
Rye/vetch

6. Attempted data collection methods . . . .
Soil core
Excavation
Quadrat sampling
Litter bags
Pitfall trap 

8. Larval activity calendar

9. Mean season-long larval activity per cover treatment

10. Total biomass (g) per cover treatment

11. Mean season-long adult activity per cover treatment

12. Mother knows best– clear oviposition preference for no-till habitats

13. Thanks! Ian Kaplan Clifford Sadof Kevin Gibson Doug Richmond
Gina, Jess, Uli, Joe, Garvey, Elizabeth, and Gareth (!)

14. Amazing photo by Colin Hutton (www.colinhuttonphotography.com)
Questions?
Amazing photo by Colin Hutton (

16. Germination experiment Take II