Abstract: An agroecosystem can be identified as an area which includes crop habitat and non-crop habitat adjacent to the targeted crop for research on integrated pest management. Insect movement from the crop habitat to the adjacent non-crop habitat can be related to natural dispersal, host alternation and shelter seeking due to lack of suitable food or cultivation-caused disturbances in the crop habitat. Many studies suggest that the vegetational settings and structure associated particular crop fields can influence the kind, abundance, and time of colonization of insect pests and their natural enemies. Compositions and characteristics of the vegetation around crop fields can therefore be modified to regulate interrelationships of the crop pests and their natural enemies in agroecosystems, and to enhance ecological functions of the enemies for pest management. A landscape rather than a single homogeneous field may often be the appropriate unit for research and implementation of integrated pest management since the spatial patterns of the landscape influence the biology of arthropods both directly and indirectly. Reintroducing a mosaic structure composed of various uncultivated plants or corridors into modern agricultural landscape can lead to the creation of multiple non-crop habitats for reproduction, feeding and shelter for a number of beneficial species of arthropods.

Key words: agroecosystem, non-crop habitat, biodiversity, integrated pest management