Approaches to assess the importance of carnivorous beetles as predators of oilseed rape pests

The feeding ecology and efficacy of common carnivorous beetles from the families Carabidae and Staphylinidae as predators of the most important oilseed rape pest species are currently investigated within the EU-project "MASTER" (MAnagement STrategies for European Rape Pests). Using several experimental approaches, significant differences in feeding acceptance, food preferences and mean consumption rates, as well as in the degree of partial granivory of key predator species which proved to be dominant on winter oilseed rape fields in Braunschweig, Germany (Carabidae: Amara similata, Anchomenus dorsalis, Poecilus cupreus, Pseudoophonus rufipes and Pterostichus melanarius; Staphylinidae: Tachyporus hypnorum) have been revealed by our laboratory research so far. Selected results of laboratory feeding trials (choice and no-choice tests) are presented. In light of these findings, a comparison between the different beetle species according to their efficacy as oilseed rape pest predators seems possible.