Artificial ground shelters for overwintering phytoseiid mites in orchards

Biological control in orchards strongly depends on winter survival of natural enemies, especially in temperate regions. Predacious phytoseiid mites overwinter on trees or on the ground depending on the characteristics of the species. However, the overwintering ecology of phytoseiid mites on the ground is less well known than that of those on trees. We investigated the usefulness of artificial overwintering shelters as a tool for studying the overwintering ecology of phytoseiid mites on the ground. Four kinds of artificial shelter (shading net, felt, cardboard, and urethane foam) were placed on the ground in an apple orchard in Korea. Two dominant phytoseiid species, Neoseiulus makuwa (Ehara) and N. womersleyi (Schicha) (Acari: Phytoseiidae), overwintered in the artificial ground shelters, and numbers were highest in the urethane foam among the four kinds of shelter, and next highest in the shading net. On the other hand, the numbers of phytoseiid mites collected in the ground vegetation plus soil samples under the ground shelters were not significantly different among the five shelter treatments, including the no-shelter control. Our results suggest that artificial overwintering shelters are efficient tools for investigating overwintering ecology of phytoseiid mites on the ground, as well as on trees, in orchards. Furthermore, the artificial shelters would be good sampling units because they are easily formed into identical sizes and can be used almost anywhere in the field with less laborious work. We also discuss some implications about the effects of sheltered structures on the ground on the populations of phytoseiid mites during winter.