EFFECTS OF GRASSY BANKS ON THE DISPERSAL OF SOME CARABID BEETLES (COLEOPTERA, CARABIDAE) ON FARMLAND

Mark-recapture experiments in replicated experimental plots were used to assess the relative effects of a barley crop and two widths of a fi eld boundary on the field-to-field movement of three carabid species. Movement of Harpalus rufipes, Pterostichus melanarisu and P. niger was slower through a grassy bank than through a barley crop, indicating t hat the bank had a lower permeability to these species than the crop. Other variables affecting the movement of carabids through the field b oundary were species, dietary condition and width of the field boundar y. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the dynamics of carabid dispersal on farmland.