1. Parasitoid wasps affect herbivory in natural and agricultural ecosystems, including cash crops. The impacts of rainforest transformation to rubber and oil palm on parasitoid wasp communities are poorly understood.2. We collected canopy arthropods, once each in dry season and rainy season, via canopy fogging in four land-use systems in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia: Rainforest, jungle rubber (extensive rubber cultivation) and plantations of rubber and oil palm.3. The combined abundance and richness of six parasitoid wasp families, and Braconidae individually, was twice as high in rainforest as in rubber and oil palm plantations, and intermediary in jungle rubber. There was a significant positive correlation between combined abundance of six parasitoid wasp families, and abundances of potential hosts from the orders Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera and Lepidoptera. Braconid biomass tended to be highest in rainforest and lowest in oil palm plantations, and Braconid communities in oil palm differed from those in the other land uses. Both patterns were influenced by season. 4. Our study details the effects of rainforest conversion to rubber and oil palm on parasitoid wasp communities, and provides first insights on the influence of rainfall seasonality on their abundance, biomass, species richness and community composition in Southeast Asian agricultural landscapes.
At the oil palm landscape, conserving biodiversity and ecosystem processes can range from continuous adjacent forest remnant to tree patches (agroforestry) maintained within the oil palm landscape on steep slopes and riparian margins. The objective of the research was to analyze patched of tree planting inside monoculture oil palm plantation (agroforestry) as one variant of landscape multifunctionality for enhancing biodiversity-based ecosystem functions including soil macrofauna, soil water recharge/retention, and pollinators. The observation was carried out in 2019 in agroforestry islands established in 2013 by EFForTS research project inside monoculture oil palm plantation. At the agroforestry age of 5 years in 2019, the abundance of individual soil fauna in agroforestry plots and oil palm plantation was not significantly different. The infiltration and soil big pores in agroforestry tended to be higher than in oil palm active rows. Pollinator species richness was not significantly different in all plant diversity levels and plots. Similar to its richness, pollinator abundance is neither affected in different plant diversity levels nor plots. The lack of pollinator presence may be caused by the haze from forest and land fires that happened during the research.
Sex ratio is one of the most important biological characteristics of arthropods. In a parasitoid population, sex ratio can influence the suppression of host populations or the stability of host–parasitoid interactions in the field. In this study, a survey was carried out to determine the sex allocation through the sequence of male/female adult emergence and calculate the sex ratio of selected populations of Apanteles taragamae in their natural habitat. Assessment of sex ratio at the population and individual level (brood size per female) was examined. We found no difference in the likelihood that either sex would emerge before the other. Observations of sex ratio at the population and individual level reveal a females biased sex ratio. Analysis of the relationship between brood size and sex ratio of A. taragamae shows that brood size may influence the proportion of male to female offspring yielded. A male-biased sex ratio tends to be found in smaller brood size. However, sex ratio is shifted to female biased in larger brood size.
Integrating plantation landscape with vegetation/tree diversity has been proposed as a strategy to maintain crop production (for livelihood) while increasing biodiversity, habitat complexity and ecological functions. The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of tree biodiversity in experimental biodiversity enrichment in oil palm plantation to beneficial insects, especially ants and parasitoid wasps in the EFForTS-BEE research plot. Beneficial insects in experimental enrichment oil palm plantation are very important to be studied so that ecosystem services that are related with the changes of the plant structures over time can be understood better. Insect collections were done in two years, 2018 and 2019. Direct sampling was used to collect actual insects, pitfall traps to trap ground dwelling insects, yellow pan traps and malaise trap to trap low-flying insects, and sweep net to collect general insects. Overall, we collected 76 species of 6423 individual ants, and 174 morphospecies of 867 parasitoid wasps in this research. Abundance of ants and parasitoid wasps were not influenced either by tree diversity level in the plot nor the various plant diversity. In contrast, tree diversity level has strongly influenced species richness of ants and partially affected species richness of parasitoid wasps. In conclusion, there are positive correlation between ants’ and parasitoid wasps’ species richness and vegetation abundance.
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