Data from: Artificial temporary non-crop habitats support parasitoids on arable land.

Data from "Artificial temporary non-crop habitats support parasitoids on arable land". Site location and raw parasitoid data are provided.

Authors: Ezequiel Gonzáleza, Martin Štrobl, Petr Janšta, Tomáš Hovorka, Tomáš Kadlec, Michal Knapp
Corresponding author: Dr Knapp ([e-mail])

Description: Within each field, we selected three different habitat types: control OSR plots (henceforth ‘control’) and two types of unsown patches that were created by destroying OSR plants in early spring. The first type of unsown patches was left unmanaged and followed a successional process of colonization by weeds (henceforth ‘unsown patch’), whereas Onobrychis patches were sown using a mix of mechanized and hand sowing with O. vicifolia in early April. Adult parasitoids were sampled using pan traps and sweep-netting in two periods during different OSR phenological stages. The first sampling period was in mid-May, during OSR mass flowering (henceforth ‘flowering’, BBCH stage 65), and the second period was in mid-June during the beginning of the OSR ripening stage (henceforth ‘ripening’, BBCH 80‐–85). Pan traps were plastic dishes (diameter 25 cm, depth 4 cm) filled with saline solution with a few drops of detergent (Jar; UFI: KPQ0-R0RU-800Y-F4FV). One pan trap of each colour was placed in the middle of each plot, on top of wooden poles that were adjusted at the height of the surrounding vegetation, and left exposed for 48 hours. To sample parasitoids on the vegetation, we swept the vegetation throughout each plot making 50 sweeps using a 35 cm diameter sweeping net. Sweep netting was performed on the same days at all fields and within the days when pan traps were exposed, during favourable weather conditions for insect activity (sunny days with no rainfalls or strong winds). All the captured arthropods were preserved in separate plastic zip bags with 95% ethanol.