Environmental Entomology (1987) 16, 100-105

Terry B. Arnold and Daniel A. Potter (1987)
Impact of a high-maintenance lawn-care program on nontarget invertebrates in Kentucky bluegrass turf
Environmental Entomology 16 (1), 100-105
Abstract: Replicated plots (112.2 m²) of Kentucky bluegrass turf were maintained for 4 yr on a schedule of fertilizer, herbicide, and insecticide treatments, or were unmanaged except for mowing. Impact of the high-maintenance program on predators, decomposers, and nontarget herbivorous insects was determined from pitfall-trap collections, soil and thatch extractions, and sweep-net and formalin-drench samples. Trap catches of predaceous arthropods, specifically Araneae, Staphylinidae, and Carabidae, were significantly reduced by insecticides, particularly late-summer soil treatment with diazinon. Predators repopulated treated plots by the following spring. Chrysomelidae were more abundant on high-maintenance plots in spring. Soil and thatch pH decreased significantly and thatch accumulation more than tripled under the high-maintenance program. However, earthworms were relatively unaffected, and oribatid mites were generally more abundant in high-maintenance plots. This suggests that thatch accumulation was probably more a consequence of increased vegetative production than of decreased decomposition due to depletion of soil invertebrates. Although high-maintenance lawn-care programs affect many groups of nontarget invertebrates, this study suggests that the effects are variable and in some cases less severe than would be expected, given the quantity and frequency of pesticide and fertilizer use.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
health/environmental effects of pesticides
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
resistance to pesticides

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Macrosteles quadrilineatus	Poa (crop)	U.S.A. (NE)
	Endria inimica	Poa (crop)	U.S.A. (NE)
	Agallia constricta	Poa (crop)	U.S.A. (NE)
Scarites subterraneus (predator)			U.S.A. (NE)