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In agro-ecosystems, habitat loss and fragmentation may alter the assemblage of aphidophagous insects, such as foliar-foraging (coccinellids) and ground-foraging predators (carabids), potentially affecting intraguild interactions. We evaluated how habitat loss (0, 55 and 84%), fragmentation (1, 4 and 16 fragments) and their combination affected the abundance and species richness of coccinellids and carabids, and aphid abundance, both in the short-term (summer: December to February) and over a longer time span (autumn: March to May), when different demographic mechanisms may participate. We created four types of 30 × 30 m patches (landscapes) in which alfalfa was grown: Control (1F - 0%, 30 × 30 m patch of alfalfa with no fragmentation or habitat loss), 4F - 55% (4 alfalfa fragments, with 55% total habitat loss), 4F - 84% (4 alfalfa fragments, with 84% total habitat loss), and 16F - 84% (16 alfalfa fragments, with 84% total habitat loss). Each landscape type was replicated five times. Insects were sampled by sweep-netting and pitfall traps, from December (summer) to May (autumn). Total abundance and species richness of carabids, in the short-term, was highest in the 16F - 84% landscapes. Total abundance of adult coccinellids was similar among landscapes, but at the species level Hyperaspis sphaeridioides, in the short-term, and Adalia bipunctata, in the long-term, had their highest densities in fragments within landscapes with high habitat loss (84%), independently of habitat fragmentation. Species richness in the long-term was higher in the landscapes with 84% habitat loss. Among aphids, in the long term Aphis craccivora was less abundant in landscapes with high habitat loss and fragmentation (16-84%), while Therioaphis trifolii showed the opposite trend. These results suggest that habitat loss and fragmentation may increase the density and diversity of aphidophagous insects, while their effects on aphids are more variable.

Habitat fragmentation may affect the dispersal behaviour of individuals across the landscape. If there is a high boundary contrast between the remaining fragments and the matrix, individuals should tend to stay inside the fragments, but the configuration of the landscape, i.e. the level of fragmentation and isolation distance between fragments, may modulate this. To test these ideas, we made several mark-recapture experiments with the ladybird Eriopis connexa (Germ.) in manipulated alfalfa model landscapes (30 × 30 m). Specifically we evaluated (i) ladybird movement and permanence in alfalfa and bare ground areas, (ii) how they move across fragment/matrix boundaries, (iii) how their movement between fragments within a landscape is affected by fragmentation level and isolation distance, and (iv) how their permanence in the landscape is affected by fragmentation level and isolation distance. The fragmented alfalfa landscapes had a constant level of habitat loss (84%), but varied in the level of habitat fragmentation (4 or 16 fragments), and isolation distance between fragments (2 or 6 m). We also sampled aphid abundance in the different landscapes through time. We found that ladybirds stay longer and displace less in alfalfa than on bare ground, and that they move less from the alfalfa fragments to the neighbouring bare ground matrix than vice versa. At the landscape level, ladybirds had a higher inter-fragment movement when fragments were closer, they tended to remain in less fragmented landscapes, regardless of their isolation distance. Aphid abundance increased in time, but it was similar in all landscapes. Ladybird movement within fragments, in the matrix and in the boundary between both habitats explains why ladybirds concentrate within alfalfa fragments. However, their dispersal movements at the landscape level do not reflect the higher abundance sometimes found for several species of ladybirds in more fragmented landscapes. At this larger scale, other mechanisms may have a stronger influence in determining the abundance of ladybirds.