Groundcovers and Rain Shelters Alter Co-Occurrence Patterns among Ground Beetle Communities in an Organic Raspberry Crop.

The use of rain shelters and reflective groundcovers has been shown to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of organic fruit crops prone to rain-driven epidemics of phytopathogens. Here, we tested whether these structures affect communities of epigean species. To this end, we studied rain shelters and white, synthetic reflective groundcovers placed in a red raspberry organic cropping system in New Brunswick, Canada, during two subsequent summers to assess their independent and combined effects on ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae).