The impact of semi-natural habitats on the abundance of pollen beetle adults on winter oilseed rape fields

Abstract: Pollen beetle dispersal in the field depends on several different factors, such as the phenological stage of the crop, its odour and yellow colour during flowering are especially attractive to pollen beetles. The dispersal of the scent depends on wind direction and pollen beetles’ dispersal follows upwind anemotaxis.This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different semi-natural habitats (woody linear, woody areal, herbaceous linear and herbaceous areal) surrounding winter oilseed rape fields on the abundance of the pollen beetle. Beetles were counted from oilseed rape plants using the beating method. The results showed higher number of pollen beetles on fields bordered with herbaceous linear elements than with other studied semi-natural habitat elements.