TY - JOUR

T1 - Pennycress double-cropping does not negatively impact spider diversity

AU - Groeneveld, Janna H.

AU - Lührs, Hans P.

AU - Klein, Alexandra Maria

PY - 2015/8

Y1 - 2015/8

N2 - Pennycress has been suggested as an alternative feedstock for bioenergy. Especially, its cultivation in a double-cropping system with corn appears to be promising for a sustainable production. As an aspect of its sustainability, we studied the effect of a pennycress-corn double-cropping system on spider diversity. We used a randomized block design with 60 pitfall traps to compare the system's spider diversity with that of three commonly applied corn rotations: mustard-corn, green fallow-corn and bare fallow-corn. We sampled from 13 March to 26 June 2012, which included the corresponding cultivation changes to corn. The pennycress-corn system harboured a higher spider species richness and diversity (Shannon index) than the other three systems, driven by web-building spiders. Abundance only differed between the pennycress- and bare fallow-corn system. However, separated into foraging guilds, hunting spiders were most abundant in the mustard-corn system, whereas web-building spiders were more abundant in the pennycress-corn than in the mustard- and bare fallow-corn system. The results obtained in the present study suggest that cultivation of pennycress as a biofuel feedstock in a double-cropping system has positive (and not negative) effects on the spider diversity compared with other commonly used cultivation systems.

AB - Pennycress has been suggested as an alternative feedstock for bioenergy. Especially, its cultivation in a double-cropping system with corn appears to be promising for a sustainable production. As an aspect of its sustainability, we studied the effect of a pennycress-corn double-cropping system on spider diversity. We used a randomized block design with 60 pitfall traps to compare the system's spider diversity with that of three commonly applied corn rotations: mustard-corn, green fallow-corn and bare fallow-corn. We sampled from 13 March to 26 June 2012, which included the corresponding cultivation changes to corn. The pennycress-corn system harboured a higher spider species richness and diversity (Shannon index) than the other three systems, driven by web-building spiders. Abundance only differed between the pennycress- and bare fallow-corn system. However, separated into foraging guilds, hunting spiders were most abundant in the mustard-corn system, whereas web-building spiders were more abundant in the pennycress-corn than in the mustard- and bare fallow-corn system. The results obtained in the present study suggest that cultivation of pennycress as a biofuel feedstock in a double-cropping system has positive (and not negative) effects on the spider diversity compared with other commonly used cultivation systems.

KW - Araneae

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Biofuels

KW - Brassicaceae

KW - Hunting spiders

KW - Thlaspi arvense

KW - Web-building spiders

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84935101101&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/afe.12100

DO - 10.1111/afe.12100

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84935101101

VL - 17

SP - 247

EP - 257

JO - Agricultural and Forest Entomology

JF - Agricultural and Forest Entomology

SN - 1461-9555

IS - 3

ER -