Carabidae (Coleoptera) in Nova Scotia, Canada wild blueberry fields: prospects for biological control

The Carabidae (Coleoptera) are a diverse family of beetles with almost 300 species identified in Nova Scotia, Canada. Carabid beetle communities have been studied in several agricultural systems, but not wild blueberries, an important crop in eastern Canada. In the interest of potentially developing conservation biological control programs in wild blueberry, we collected Carabidae in crop (fruit-bearing) and sprout (vegetative) blueberry fields in Nova Scotia in order to assess species diversity and abundance over space and time. Over 3200 specimens were collected, representing 51 species. A large portion of collected specimens (39%) were nonnative, and the most abundant species were generally predacious and synanthropic. Species diversity tended to be higher near forest edges than further into fields, but not for all abundant species. Several of the most prominent predators showed significant differences in preference of crop versus sprout fields, distribution throughout fields, and seasonable abundance. These findings have implications for conservation biological control efforts with carabid beetles against several insect pests in wild blueberry.