Diversity of Vascular and Insects Canopy Epiphytes on Palm Oil in North Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

This paper describes the role of the insect, which is essential for human survival, but still people are not familiar with widely even some people consider insects no meaning or viewed from the downside. Diversity of epiphytes and insects in the canopy of palm oil plantations in North Sumatra assessed by field observations at five locations, namely, Bukit Sentang, Padang Mandarsyah, Ajamu, Sijambu-jambu, and Aek Pancur. Data were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative. Based on the results obtained by analysis of the biological diversity of insects that affect the quality and quantity of farm products. In natural ecosystems, generally there has been a stable population of pests and their natural enemies so that the presence of insect pests in cropping is no longer harmful. Thereby, the conditions need to be developed so as to reduce the use of pesticides to control pests in field crops, especially in export-oriented and has high economic value.

Characteristic of the material deposits, microclimate profile, epiphyte abundance, and bacteria populations in the above-ground ecosystem of oil palm

“…These species can grow well on the soil surface, indicating they are not true epiphytes. The results confirmed the findings of Suzanti et al (2016), which found that true epiphytes were uncommon in an oil palm plantation. The species of pteridophytes in the eastern region were more diverse than those in the west, as seen in Table 2.…”

“…Nurdiansyah et al (2016) suggested that maintaining plant diversity and fostering weedy strips could be effective for the biological control of pests and disease. Meanwhile, vascular epiphytes may help support insect biodiversity (Suzanti et al 2016). It also increases understory vegetation, mitigates the adverse effects of forest resources, and prevents the loss of diversity (Ashton-Butt et al 2018;Nájera and Simonetti 2010).…”

“…Material deposit is a medium for most epiphytic plants to grow on oil palm trunks. Vascular epiphytes are commonly attached to the oil palm stem (Suzanti et al 2016), where microfauna, mesofauna, macrofauna, and different types of amoeba, are also observed (Potapov et al 2020). Each material deposits microbiome will differ from terrestrial soils (Eskov et al 2021).…”

Influence of Monoculture and Polyculture Planting Patterns on the Intensity of Pest Attacks by Helopeltis sp. on Arabica Coffee of the Sigarar Utang Variety in North Tapanuli Regency

“…The percentage of pest attacks in intercropping cropping patterns is lower compared to monoculture cropping patterns. This is thought to be because the intercropping pattern, apart from providing nectar from flowers needed by parasitoid and predatory insects (Saputra et al, 2023;Allifah, 2013;Kurniawati & Martono, 2015;Suswati et al, 2021;Azwana & Sihotang, 2023), also contains repellent compounds for insect pests (Nurdiansyah et al, 2016;Suzanti et al, 2016). The use of intercropping increases plant diversity in the field which can suppress pest attacks and increase the performance of natural enemies (Nirmayanti et al, 2015).…”