Cultural homegarden management practices mediate arthropod communities in Indonesia

Abstract

Tropical forest loss and transformation to agroecosystems have serious impacts on biodiversity, associated ecosystem services and the livelihood of local people. The high crop plant biodiversity and low intensity management in many homegardens could play an important role in the preservation of biodiversity in modified landscapes, as well as sustain food security of low income households. In this study, we focused on the role of the owner's cultural background as migrants (from the island of Java) or non-migrants (local residents) for homegarden characteristics, such as size, management diversification, and crop species richness, and their effect on arthropod communities in Jambi province, Indonesia. Vane traps, pitfall traps and sweep netting were used to survey the arthropod communities, in particular bees and wasps, in 24 homegardens. Our results show that the native Jambi locals used a smaller number of management practices and had smaller homegardens than the Javanese transmigrants, whereas crop species richness did not differ. Management diversification and crop species richness were positively related to arthropod abundance as well as species richness of bees and wasps, presumably due to the enhanced homegarden heterogeneity. Our findings suggest that the cultural practices of migrant versus non-migrant land-use managers, which is usually neglected in agroecology, can be a major determinant of management practices shaping community structure and services of beneficial arthropods.

Coupling people and nature: social-ecological filters of beetle functional diversity in local campesino and migrant homegardens of the southern Andes

“…This study found that gardener cultural origin (indigenous and non-indigenous campesino vs. lifestyle migrant) might in uence both the taxonomic and functional diversity of beetle communities in homegardens. This result supports previous studies exploring the role of gardener origin on the composition, structure, and functioning of homegardens, as the latter usually re ect many aspects of the food system, tastes, and agricultural traditions of people co-occurring in an area 19,64 . For instance, differences in both crop species and intensity of management practices are associated with the gardener origin in Vietnamese homegardens 64 .…”

“…For instance, differences in both crop species and intensity of management practices are associated with the gardener origin in Vietnamese homegardens 64 . Number of management practices and homegarden area are different among migrant and non-migrant homegardens and both social-ecological lters differentially in uence beetle functional groups in Indonesian homegardens 19 . While we acknowledge that homegarden attributes are likely in uenced by several factors beyond gardener origin 7 , our study shed light on some of the underlying social-ecological lters explaining variation in the taxonomic and functional diversity of beetles in campesino and migrant homegardens of the southern Andes.…”

“…These social-ecological lters are de ned as those coupled human-nature factors that selectively remove species according to their functional traits [16][17][18] . For example, homegarden area lters arthropod species and thus structure community assembly in homegardens of Indonesia 19 and India 20 . Furthermore, the diversi cation of management practices, including the use of pesticides, mediates the variation of beetle diversity in homegardens of Mexico 21 .…”

“…Beyond the in uence on species richness, social-ecological lters can also in uence the functional roles played by beetles in agricultural systems such as pollination, nutrient cycling, and pest control 19,20,22,23 . Thus, these lters determine the functional diversity of beetles, de ned as the value, range, and relative abundance of beetle functional traits in a community 12,24 .…”

Homegarden agroecosystems managed by Salar people on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

“…Identification and characterization of agroecosystem services and functions of Salar HGs were analyzed based on information obtained from the literature review, participant and non-participant observation, and semi-structured interviews [ 26 ]. We used participatory and non-participatory observation methods to comprehend the Salar HG structure during fieldwork and reveal the relationship among the Salar HGs, local community, and traditional Salar culture [ 27 ].…”