Arboreal Entomophagous Arthropods of Rice Insect Pests Inhabiting Adaptive Vegetables and Refugia in Freshwater Swamps of South Sumatra

Abstract

The plants surrounding rice field serve as a habitat and niche for entomophagous arthropods. This study aimed to identify the entomophagous arthropod species and to analyze their abundance and community in vegetables and refugia grown in the rice field. The field was surrounded by 4 species of refugia (Zinnia sp., Tagetes erecta, Cosmos caudatus, and Sesamum indicum) and 4 species of vegetables (Vigna unguiculata, Momordica charantia, Cucumis sativus, and Luffa acutangula). The arthropod found were 67 species of predatory arthropods and 22 species of parasitoids. The predatory arthropods were mostly found in rice (51 species) followed by Zinnia sp. (15 species), and M. charantia (9 species). Parasitoid species were dominantly found in rice (19 species), Zinnia sp. (7 species), and M. charantia (6 species). The predatory arthropods mostly found were Tetragnatha javana, Tetragnatha virescens, and Paederus fuscipes, while the dominant parasitoids were Cardiochiles sp., Elasmus sp., and Snellenius sp. The parasitoid species composition in rice was more similar to those in bitter melon and zinnia. The composition of predatory arthropod species in rice was similar to those in all vegetables and refugia, except in cowpea. Zinnia sp. and M. charantia were the most chosen habitat by entomophagous arthropods.

Community structure of arboreal and soil-dwelling arthropods in three different rice planting indexes in freshwater swamps of South Sumatra, Indonesia

“…In the rice PI-100, the wild vegetation around the rice was more diverse, and the local farmers generally cultivate the flowering vegetables on the rice fields, while in the rice PI-200 and PI-300, the fields are generally in the form of large expanses with relatively cleaner bunds. The vegetation of wild flowering plants or the flowering vegetables can increase the diversity of species of the arboreal arthropods (Herlinda et al 2019a;Karenina et al 2020).…”

“…The species diversity of the herbivorous insects in the rice PI-100 had the same tendency as the species diversity of the arboreal predatory arthropods resulted from the more varied species of flora around the rice PI-100 field due to the local farmers' habit of planting bitter melon, cucumbers, long beans in the rice fields. Karenina et al (2020) state that adaptive vegetables provide an alternative habitat and niches for herbivorous insects.…”

“…Freshwater swamps are wetlands inundated by water from rivers or rain throughout the year (Hanif et al 2020). Freshwater swamps are generally submerged in the rainy season and drought in the dry season (Karenina et al 2020). The most extensive freshwater swamps in Indonesia are in Sumatra (11.9 Mha) (Margono et al 2014) centered in South Sumatra.…”

“…The typical characteristic of freshwater swamps is that it has three types of land, namely shallowly, moderately, and deeply flooded swamps (Lakitan et al 2019). The different types of freshwater swamps result in differences in rice management (Karenina et al 2020). In the shallowly and moderately flooded swamps, farmers generally plant rice more than once a year, while in the deeply flooded swamps it is generally planted once a year (Lakitan et al 2019).…”

Arboreal arthropod assemblages in chili pepper with different mulches and pest managements in freshwater swamps of South Sumatra, Indonesia

“…The three typologies of swamps influence the tradition of farmers in cultivating agricultural commodities (Lakitan et al 2018). In shallowly flooded swamps, the farmers generally plant adaptive vegetables and food crops, for example, chili pepper or chili, corn, eggplant, paddy, long beans, ridged gourd, bitter melon, or cucumber (Siaga et al 2019;Karenina et al 2020a). In the moderately flooded swamps, they generally grow rice, while chilies and other adaptive vegetables are grown on paddy embankments ).…”