Plant communities which form orchard edges are a vital element of ecological infrastructure enriching these agrocenoses. The research was conducted in an orchard environment made up of apple orchards and their edges in the form of agricultural cultivations, tree clumps and a road lined with trees and shrubberies. The study aim was to determine the impact of the orchard edge plant diversity onto the number and abundance of Ichneumonidae subfamilies in the orchards. The study showed that orchard environments made up of an apple orchard and edge plants of various species create better living conditions for Ichneumonidae parasitoids than the environment of an orchard and neighbouring agricultural cultivations. The diversity of orchard edge plants positively influences the abundance of the Ichneumonidae subfamilies rather than the number of subfamilies in the orchard. In the orchard habitat the following dominant subfamilies were found: Campopleginae, Cryptinae, Orthocentrinae and Pimplinae. These entomophages may control the abundance of pests infesting orchards.
The rose tortrix moth Archips rosana (Linnaeus) is a dominant species among leafroller moths in<br />Poland’s apple orchards. The study found high levels of parasitisation of the tortrix (15.5–40.1%), with the average level of parasitisation of 24.6%, by parasitoids of the families Ichneumonidae, Chalcididae and Tachinidae. The most effective were the Ichneumonidae, which decreased the tortrix abundance by 17.2%. The rose tortrix moth was parasitised by 7 Ichneumonidae species, namely: Trichomma enecator (Rossi), Phaeogenes semivulpinu (Gravenhorsts), Exochus mitratus (Gravenhorsts), Apechthis quadridentata (Thomson), Apechthis rufata (Gmelin in Linnaeus), Itoplectis maculator (Fabricius) and Pimpla turionellae (Linnaeus). The tortrix abundance was mainly reduced by I. maculator, which parasitised 5.1–32.2% of the pupae (15% on average).
The authors of the article used literature data to present the species diversity of the Aphidiinae (Braconidae) subfamily in agricultural crops, forests and urban green space in Poland. In total, 83 species of parasitoids were found in all the environments. Aphidiinae preferred forests most: 61 species of the parasitoids were found there. The agricultural and urban environments did not attract so many Aphidiinae parasitoid species as forests. There were 41 species found in the agricultural environment and 38 species in the urban green space. All the environments were infested by the following 15 species: Aphidius ervi, A. matricariae, A. picipes, A. salicis, A. setiger, A. sonchi, Diaeretiella rapae, Ephedrus persicae, E. plagiator, Lysiphlebus ambiguous, L. fabarum, Praon abjectum, P. volucre, Trioxys acalephae and T. angelicae.
Urban green areas have favourable conditions for the development of phytophagous species, which feed on plants and thus reduce their aesthetic value. The population of plant pests can be limited by parasitoids of the Pimplinae subfamily. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of low, medium, and high anthropogenic pressure on the qualitative and quantitative structure of Pimplinae communities inhabiting urban green areas and to determine the influence of this pressure on the catchability of insects. The research was conducted between 2014 and 2016 in allotment gardens in the city of Poznań. The research showed that there were individual species with the highest frequency of occurrence in the communities of parasitoids which were affected by low anthropogenic pressure. On the other hand, in the communities exposed to high anthropogenic pressure the frequencies of occurrence of individual species were similar to each other. There were significant differences in the catchability of parasitoids into individual Moericke traps. The research showed that the richness of plant species had the greatest influence on the qualitative and quantitative structure of Pimplinae communities, whereas the size of the area, distance from the city centre, and the intensity of air pollution exerted lesser influence.
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