Does habitat heterogeneity affect the diversity of epigaeic arthropods in vineyards?

Abstract

1 The aims of this research performed in vineyards within the Douro Demarcated Region were to determine the species composition of vineyard epigaeic arthropods assemblages and to determine the influence of certain factors on their activity densities and diversity: (i) landscape composition in buffers (125, 250, 500 and 750 m) around each study site; (ii) adjacent vegetation; and (iii) vineyards' ground cover. Arthropods' were assessed using pitfall traps located inside the vineyards at three distances from adjacent vegetation (5, 50 and 100 m). 2 Activity densities and diversity increased from spring to summer for all the studied trophic groups (omnivores, detritivores, predators, phytophages), thus showing them to be affected by season. 3 The activity densities of phytophages were always higher at a distance of 5 m from the adjacent vegetation, which suggests that, although they could originate from these habitats, they do not move too far into the vineyard. Predators reported higher activity densities at 5 m during spring. Meanwhile, in summer, no significant differences were found with the increasing distance from the edge. This result suggests that these habitats could serve both as a refuge and a hibernation habitat, from which predators could colonize the vineyard.

Effects of vineyard inter-row management on the diversity and abundance of plants and surface-dwelling invertebrates in Central Romania

“…Although we did not explicitly sample soil arthropods, our findings are in line with others suggesting that soil arthropod biodiversity and functioning is often dependent on agricultural management (Diekötter et al 2010). Therefore, soil arthropods should be considered as a valuable resource that requires adequate habitat management so that the ecosystem services they supply are enhanced (Gonçalves et al 2018).…”

“…The negative correlation between omnivore richness and the percentage of ground cover suggested that vineyards with a higher percentage of ground cover were expected to have lower omnivore richness (Gonçalves et al 2018). In other studies, ground cover positively influenced the activity of carabids (Cole et al 2005;Saska et al 2014), as did the maintenance of mowing residues at the surface (Shearin et al 2008).…”

“…Indeed, higher arthropod diversity was associated with increased compositional and structural diversity of the vegetation in vineyards where vegetation cover was present (Gaigher and Samways 2010). Vineyards that have ground vegetation cover with high plant species diversity have higher activity densities and richness of phytophages (Gonçalves et al 2018). A diverse plant community can influence beneficial arthropod populations by providing food or habitat resources that might not be found in a simple plant community (Costello and Daane 1998).…”

Entomopathogenic fungi in Portuguese vineyards soils: suggesting a ‘Galleria-Tenebrio-bait method’ as bait-insects Galleria and Tenebrio significantly underestimate the respective recoveries of Metarhizium (robertsii) and Beauveria (bassiana)

“…However, vineyards attract many primary, secondary or tertiary insect pests (Gonçalves et al 2017, Sharma et al 2018. For example, one of the key insect-pest in vineyards is the European Grapevine Moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis and Schiffermüller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae).…”

Landscape ecology and expanding range of biocontrol agent taxa enhance prospects for diamondback moth management. A review

“…The relative neglect of predators in preference for parasitoids reflects the research on a small number of parasitoid species that have been introduced to multiple countries in classical biological control programs (Sarfraz et al 2007). Although parasitoids can be promoted by local habitat management (Lu et al 2014;Gillespie et al 2016), there is potential for enhancement of predators by habitat management at the landscape scale (Gonçalves et al 2017). This is because a diversity of habitat vegetation promotes continuity of availability of food, especially prey (Gurr et al 2017).…”