Ground Beetle and Tiger Beetle (Coleoptera: Caraboidea: Carabidae and Cicindelidae) Abundance, Diversity, and Species Composition in Relation to Peach Orchard Ground-Cover Management Practices

Ground beetles and tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Caraboidea: Carabidae and Cicindelidae) are ecologically important insects that have the potential to provide pest management services in cultivated environments. We investigated the abundance, diversity, and species composition of caraboids in three different ground-cover management environments (herbicide-treated, mowed, and unmanaged) in a north Georgia, USA peach orchard using pitfall traps. Diversity profiles, distance-based redundancy analysis, and indicator species analysis were used to characterize caraboid diversity and species composition and to compare caraboid assemblages in relation to these three ground-cover management strategies. Caraboid abundance was greatest in herbicide-treated plots, but diversity was lowest due to the dominance of the tiger beetle Tetracha carolina (L.), which was a significant indicator species of this habitat. The granivorous ground beetle, Harpalus pensylvanicus (DeGeer), was an indicator species in unmanaged plots, where it was the most abundant species. Overall, species composition differed significantly among treatments, primarily due to differences between herbicide-treated plots and the other two treatments. Our results suggest that peach orchard management practices can have a dramatic effect on caraboid species assemblages, including potentially beneficial entomophagous and granivorous species.