Fruit flies are among the most damaging insect pests of commercial fruit in Brazil. It is important to understand the landscape elements that may favor these flies. In the present study, spatial data from surveys of species of Anastrepha Schiner (Diptera: Tephritidae) in an urban area with forest fragments were analyzed, using geostatistics and Geographic Information System (GIS) to map the diversity of insects and evaluate how the forest fragments drive the spatial patterns. The results indicated a high diversity of species associated with large fragments, and a trend toward lower diversity in the more urbanized area, as the fragment sizes decreased. We concluded that the diversity of Anastrepha species is directly and positively related to large and continuous forest fragments in urbanized areas, and that combining geostatistics and GIS is a promising method for use in insect-pest management and sampling involving fruit flies.

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AGRADECIMENTOSCom graditão e adoração por mais uma promessa cumprida e pela imensurável felicidade em desfrutar dessa vitória, eu Te agradeço, meu Deus! Ao Senhor Jesus pelas ricas bênçãos, por me guiar e me dar tranquilidade e força para seguir meus objetivos. E ao Espírito Santo pela sabedoria, entendimento e discernimento.Ao Prof. Dr. Roberto Antônio Zucchi, pelo qual tenho grande admiração, agradeço por toda a orientação, paciência, compreensão, incentivo e confiança. Agradeço também por toda oportunidade de aprendizagem, que certamente me ajudarão em caminhos futuros. Sou muito grata por tudo. À Dra. Keiko Uramoto por, gentilmente, disponibilizar os dados de Anastrepha utilizados neste trabalho e por toda ajuda sempre que solicitada. À Dra. Elisângela Ferreira por todo o auxílio com as análises, sendo sempre solícita no desenvolvimento deste trabalho e por todo ensinamento. Agradeço também por me receber em sua casa quando cheguei à Piracicaba e pela amizade.Ao doutorando Adriano Garcia por trazer uma ideia nova ao meu trabalho e pela ajuda com a modelagem espacial. Agradeço por ser sempre solícito.Ao Prof. Dr. Sinval Silveira Neto pela preciosa convivência e por ser solícito em minhas dúvidas.À minha mãe e aos meus avós, Gabriel e Rosalina, pelo incentivo, paciência, confiança e apoio durante todo o tempo. Agradeço por tudo.Aos meus irmãos, Maurício, Mauriane, Larissa e João Victor, por fortalecerem a busca pelos meus sonhos. E à minha família, grande família, por toda a torcida em cada etapa da minha vida e por estarem sempre ao meu lado.Aos meus queridos amigos M. Sc. Fábio dos Anjos e Cleyziane dos Anjos, por toda a amizade, por me ajudarem em momentos difíceis e por estarem comigo em cada conquista. Palavra de Adoração"E ouvi a toda a criatura que está no céu, e na terra, e debaixo da terra, e que estão no mar, e a todas as coisas que neles há, dizer: Ao que está assentado sobre o trono, e ao Cordeiro, sejam dadas ações de graças, e honra, e glória, e poder para todo o sempre. E os quatro animais diziam: Amém. E os vinte e quatro anciãos prostraram-se, e adoraram ao que vive para todo o sempre."Apocalipse 5:13,14 Palavra de Vitória"Conheço as tuas obras; eis que diante de ti pus uma porta aberta, e ninguém a pode fechar; tendo pouca força, guardaste a minha palavra, e não negaste o meu nome."Apocalipse 3:8 8

We investigated aggregation patterns in three fruit fly species economically important in Brazil, namely Ceratitis capitata, Anastrepha fraterculus, and A. obliqua. The study was carried out in a buffer zone and two neighbourhoods by comparing two-time series associated with the management strategy of fruit flies (systems approach). The abundance of these three species significantly decreased over the years with a negative binomial regression model describing the relationship between abundance and time in the entire area, buffer zone, and their neighbourhoods. In addition, the negative binomial model was also well fitted to the frequency distribution data of fruit flies in all analyzed scenarios. Anastrepha obliqua showed the highest aggregation degree, considering both the entire area and time series. A. fraterculus exhibited the lowest aggregation level, and C. capitata showed an intermediate degree. The buffer zone exhibited the highest aggregation degree for all species, and neighbourhood 2 exhibited the lowest aggregation degree. The aggregation degree was higher in the time series impacted by the systems approach than the series in the first years of its implementation.

The Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) is a polyphagous pest adapted to tropical and subtropical climates, which are responsible for the highest share of fruit production. Fruit fly surveys are frequently done by installing traps at heights easily reached by the collector, between 1.5 and 2.5 meters. This study aims to inform fruit fly monitoring strategies by assessing two trap heights (around 2 m and 10 m) in four environments (agricultural and forest) at the “Luiz de Queiroz” Campus, Piracicaba, São Paulo state, Brazil. Each collection environment was considered a block, and eight multilure traps were installed at each of the two heights on four plants per block. A generalized linear model was used for non-normal data with negative binomial distribution to compare the abundance of C. capitata between trap heights and areas. The higher traps, positioned at around 10 m, collected significantly more specimens of C. capitata than those at approximately 2 m in height. The Mediterranean fruit fly was more frequent in the cultivated environments and areas with human activity than in natural areas.

We investigated ecological patterns of richness and abundance of Anastrepha fruit flies, based on a long-term series with a dataset from 1998 to 2010, subdivided into four subseries describing pest management through the systems approach (integration of different measures, at least two of which act independently, with cumulative effects), and its impact on abundance and diversity of fruit flies. Richness and abundance were influenced by time and distance but to different extents. Spatio-temporal analysis taking into account the implementation of the systems approach revealed clear effects of the pest management on fruit fly richness and abundance. However, abundance was affected by the systems approach three years before richness was. Abundance and richness also showed different relationships with time and distance between orchards and forest. The Gompertz model, used to describe the relationship between area and species richness, was the function that showed the best fit to the data. The richness-partitioning analysis, which decomposes beta diversity, indicated different distributions of richness values and predictions for additive partitioning that were directly associated with the implementation of the systems approach. The spectral analysis projected different trends for peaks, indicating that the systems approach is able to delay the time for new population peaks of fruit flies.

Acmella oleracea is a herbaceous plant native to the Amazon region that is currently arousing industrial interest due to its potential gastronomic, cosmetic and pharmaceutical uses. Accordingly, the objective of the current study was to test the influence of temperatures on A. oleracea seed germination and seedling vigor. A completely randomized design (CRD) with five treatments and five replicates was used. Treatments consisted of temperatures: 23, 26, 29, 32 and 35 ºC. The study was conducted in BODtype climate chambers with relative humidity above 90% and a 12 h photoperiod. Germination, germination speed index (GSI), average germination time, root length and number of normal and abnormal seedlings were recorded. Temperature influenced all analyzed variables, except average germination time and number of normal/abnormal seedlings. A quadratic model best described the relationship between dependent and independent variables. In general, maximum germination values, and GSI and root lengths were obtained at temperatures close to 29 °C, while the lowest observed values for these variables occurred at extreme temperatures (23 and 35 °C). The highest percentage of germinated seeds occurred on the second day. Temperatures above 29 ºC induced a significant reduction in the A. oleracea seedling root lengths.

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