Parasitoid Wasp Community Dynamics in Vineyards Following Insecticide Application

In order to integrate parasitoid wasps in agroecosystems as biological control agents, we need to understand how insecticides affect the parasitoids in the crops and their surroundings. We investigated the non-target effect of Indoxacarb, an insecticide commonly used against European grapevine moth, on parasitoid wasp communities in vineyards. We focused on characterizing: 1. The dynamics of common wasp species, and 2. Wasp abundance and species richness in the vineyard center, edge, and nearby natural area. Seven vineyards, with neighboring natural areas, were sampled before, and up to 2 weeks after, Indoxacarb applications over 2 years. We expected initial negative effects of spraying in the vineyard with some effect of Indoxacarb drift into the natural habitat, followed by wasp recovery, first in natural areas, then at the vineyard edge and finally in the center. Sticky traps were hung at the vineyard edge and center to evaluate migration into and out of the vineyard. Vacuum sampling was used to obtain parasitoid total abundance and species richness, and the abundances of four common species (43% of the wasps collected). From the vacuum samples we found that total wasp abundance and richness declined after spraying in the vineyards’ margins and center but rose over time in the natural area. Vineyard wasp abundance was restored to pre-spraying levels within 2 weeks. Among the abundant species, Trichogramma sp. and Telenomus sp., which parasitize lepidopteran hosts, declined after spraying, and Trichogramma sp. recovered more quickly than Telenomus sp. Two other abundant species, Lymaenon litoralis and Oligosita sp., did not decline after spraying. In the sticky traps, wasp abundance increased at the vineyard edge but not center after spraying, suggesting that there was migration of wasps at the vineyard edge, into or out of the crop. The results indicate an effect of Indoxacarb on the parasitoid wasp community, particularly on parasitoids of lepidopterans, the target group of Indoxacarb. The results also indicate a potential for recovery of the parasitoid community through migration from neighboring natural vegetation.

Monitoring of three Hoplocampa sawfly species in plum orchards

Three sawfly species (Hoplocampa minuta, Hoplocampa flava, Hoplocampa fulviicornis) have been monitored in plum orchards during the flowering period in three consecutive years at three different locations in Hungary using chromotropic white sticky traps. Black and yellow sawflies (H. minuta and H. flava) are one of the most important pests in plum orchards, however plum-fruit sawfly (Hoplocampa fulvicornis) has not yet been documented from plum orchards in Hungary. In almost all locations and years, H. minuta was the most dominant species, except in Cegléd, 2014, where H. flava was the most abundant one. In terms of sex ratio, in all three species, more males than females were caught in the traps except in 2016 at Érd, where more H. flava females flew into the traps.

Faunistic composition and nutrition types of the Hymenoptera Complex in a plum orchard (II)

In the plum orchards the faunistic composition of Hymenoptera insects was studied using yellow sticky traps. As a result, the presence of 26 families was indicated including three dominant, containing many potentially important species in protection against plum pests.

Seasonal dynamics of Phlebotomus neglectus (Diptera: Psychodidae) in cave microhabitats in Romania and the rediscovery of Sergentomyia minuta (Rondani, 1843) after 50 years

Background In a countrywide study aiming to update the knowledge on diversity of sand fly species in Romania, a sand fly population was observed in an isolated system of cave microhabitats. The caves are located in the protected area of Canaraua Fetii, Dobrogea region, southeastern Romania. The highest sand fly diversity was recorded in this area between 1968 and 1970. This work presents a study conducted to estimate the seasonal variation of the sand fly species in correlation with the particular environmental factors of the isolated system of cave microhabitats. Methods Sand flies were collected between May and October 2020 from one trapping site of interest in Canaraua Fetii. The trapping site consisted of a cave entrance. CDC miniature light traps and sticky traps were used to collect insects from the exterior walls of the cave entrance. Species identification of collected sand flies was done using morphological keys. Statistical analysis of the trapping and climatic data was performed. Results From all collected sand flies, 99.7% (818/822) were Phlebotomus neglectus, 0.1% (1/822) Ph. balcanicus and 0.2% (2/822) Sergentomyia minuta. Sand fly activity was first observed on 2 July and last on 24 September. A monomodal abundance trend was present, with the peak activity between 16 and 17 July. The analysis of the climatic data showed correlations between the total number of captured sand flies and both average temperature and average relative humidity. The total number of collected specimens was statistically higher when CDC miniature light traps were used compared to sticky traps. The number of females on the sticky traps was significantly higher than the number of males on the same trap type. Compared with the sticky traps, significantly more males were collected by CDC miniature light traps. This is the first record of Se. minuta in Romania after 50 years of no records (despite the trapping effort of the last 5 years in the country). Also, Ph. sergenti, previously present in this location, was not found. Conclusions In the investigated natural habitat, the diversity of the sand fly species appears to have changed, with the predominance of Ph. neglectus instead of Ph. balcanicus and Se. minuta (recorded as the two predominant species in 1968–1970). A monomodal abundance trend was observed as in other regions of the country. The sand fly activity in this particular cave microhabitat appears to be longer than in other regions in Romania. Longer sand fly activity increases the zoonotic risk of various pathogenic species’ transmission, with an impact on public health, as sand flies are important insect vectors. Graphical abstract

Seasonality of Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Cave Microhabitats and The Rediscovery of Sergentomyia Minuta (Rondani, 1843) After Fifty Years

Background: In a countrywide study with the aim to update the knowledge on diversity of sand fly species in Romania, a sand fly population was observed in an isolated system of cave microhabitats. The caves are located in the protected area of Canaraua Fetii, Dobrogea region, southeastern Romania. The highest sand fly diversity was recorded at the above-mentioned area between 1968 and 1970. This work presents an abundance study, which was conducted in order to estimate the seasonal variation of the sand fly species in correlation with the particular environmental factors of the isolated system of cave microhabitats.Methods: Sand flies were collected between May and October 2020 from one trapping site of interest, from Canaraua Fetii. The trapping site consisted of a system of cave entrances. CDC miniature light traps, and sticky traps were used to collect insects from the exterior walls of the cave entrances. Species identification of collected sand flies was done using morphological keys. Statistical analysis of the trapping and climatic data was performed.Results: From all collected sand flies, 99.63% (818/821) were Phlebotomus neglectus, 0.12% (1/821) Ph. balcanicus, and 0.25% (2/821) Sergentomyia minuta. Sand fly activity was firstly observed in 2nd of July and lastly in 24th of September. A monomodal abundance trend was present, with the peak activity between 16th and 17th of July. The analysis of the climatic data showed correlations between the total number of captured sand flies and both, average temperature and average relative humidity. The total number of collected specimens was statistically higher when CDC miniature light traps were used compared to sticky traps. The number of females on the sticky traps was significantly higher than the number of males on the same trap type. When compared with the sticky traps, a significantly higher number of males were collected by CDC miniature light traps. This is the first record of Se. minuta in Romania after 50 years of no records (despite the trapping effort of the last five years in the country). Also, Ph. sergenti, previously present in this location, was not found.Conclusions: In the investigated natural habitat, the diversity of the sand fly species appears to have changed, with the predominance of Ph. neglectus instead of Ph. balcanicus and Se. minuta (recorded as the two predominant species in 1968-1970). A monomodal abundance trend was observed as in other regions of the country. The sand fly activity in this particular cave microhabitat appears to be longer than in other regions in Romania. A longer sand fly activity increases the zoonotic risk of various pathogenic species’ transmission, with an impact in the public health, as sand flies are important insect vectors.

Inventory and Identification of Arthropods on Dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.)

Dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.) belong to the Arecaceae family of palms. Banjarbaru is one of the areas that started planting date palms in South Kalimantan. The community's knowledge of date pests still lacks. Therefore it becomes a problem for farmers. Before proper control is carried out, it is necessary to understand the types of pests first. Arthropod data on date palms at the Plantation and Livestock Service Office of South Kalimantan Province are not available. Hence, it is necessary to conduct inventory research and arthropod identification. This study aimed to determine the types of arthropods in date palms (P. dactylifera L.) in Banjarbaru. The method used was a survey method with purposive sampling carried out by collecting arthropods using swing nets, yellow sticky traps, and directly from four different locations. The field observations at four locations found 43 types of arthropods totaling 98 individuals. Twenty arthropods act as pests, 13 individuals as pollinators, and 10 individuals as predators. The arthropods were classified into ten orders and 27 families, with the largest number of individuals coming from the Lepidoptera order.

Publisher Correction: Rapid and low-cost insect detection for analysing species trapped on yellow sticky traps

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

High Throughput Data Acquisition and Deep Learning for Insect Ecoinformatics

Ecology documents and interprets the abundance and distribution of organisms. Ecoinformatics addresses this challenge by analyzing databases of observational data. Ecoinformatics of insects has high scientific and applied importance, as insects are abundant, speciose, and involved in many ecosystem functions. They also crucially impact human well-being, and human activities dramatically affect insect demography and phenology. Hazards, such as pollinator declines, outbreaks of agricultural pests and the spread insect-borne diseases, raise an urgent need to develop ecoinformatics strategies for their study. Yet, insect databases are mostly focused on a small number of pest species, as data acquisition is labor-intensive and requires taxonomical expertise. Thus, despite decades of research, we have only a qualitative notion regarding fundamental questions of insect ecology, and only limited knowledge about the spatio-temporal distribution of insects. We describe a novel high throughput cost-effective approach for monitoring flying insects as an enabling step toward “big data” entomology. The proposed approach combines “high tech” deep learning with “low tech” sticky traps that sample flying insects in diverse locations. As a proof of concept we considered three recent insect invaders of Israel’s forest ecosystem: two hemipteran pests of eucalypts and a parasitoid wasp that attacks one of them. We developed software, based on deep learning, to identify the three species in images of sticky traps from Eucalyptus forests. These image processing tasks are quite difficult as the insects are small (<5 mm) and stick to the traps in random poses. The resulting deep learning model discriminated the three focal organisms from one another, as well as from other elements such as leaves and other insects, with high precision. We used the model to compare the abundances of these species among six sites, and validated the results by manually counting insects on the traps. Having demonstrated the power of the proposed approach, we started a more ambitious study that monitors these insects at larger spatial and temporal scales. We aim at building an ecoinformatics repository for trap images and generating data-driven models of the populations’ dynamics and morphological traits.