Arthropod diversity of cocoa farms under two management systems in the Eastern and Central regions of Ghana

Akesse-Ransford, Geoffrey; Owusu, E. O.; Kyerematen, Rosina; Adu-Acheampong, Samuel

doi:10.1007/s10457-020-00568-5

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Agroforestry represents one of the most important tools to meet this challenge while fulfilling the European and Global Biodiversity Targets (Rankoth et al, 2019;Mosquera-Losada et al 2020). Akesse-Ransford et al (2021) demonstrated that insects can be used as bioindicators of ecosystem health and changes in the environment. Their number and presence is affected by management and, subsequently, informs about agro-ecosystem management priorities and actions.…”

Section: Agroforestry To Enhance Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Insect pests remain a major constrain to cocoa production in Ghana causing huge economic losses. Akesse-Ransford et al (2021) evaluated the influence of organic and conventional management systems on abundance of insects, including both pest and beneficial species. In the conventional farms, a higher number of insect pests to cocoa were recorded, while the organic farming systems support many predatory insect species that could act as natural enemies, emphasizing the importance of the management system to sustaining high biodiversity for a sound ecosystem.…”

Section: Agroforestry To Enhance Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Agroforestry and the environment

et al. 2021

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Agroforestry is a traditional land use system that may contribute to the solution of environmental problems in agriculture. Agroforestry is the practice of deliberately integrating woody vegetation (trees or shrubs) with crops and/or animal systems to benefit from the resulting ecological and economic interactions. Recent research indicates that a wider adoption of agroforestry principles and practices is a key means by which the global agri-food sector might achieve more sustainable methods of food and fiber production by producing both economic benefits for farmers and environmental benefits for society. Agroforestry provides numerous provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting ecosystem services and environmental benefits while promoting eco-intensification based on a more efficient use of the resources. Nevertheless, there is only little published recent information on the contribution of agroforestry to the environment in general and on climate change, carbon sequestration and forest fires in particular. In this special issue a number of articles are included that provide a kaleidoscope of the environmental benefits that agroforestry provides to the environment.

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Section: Agroforestry To Enhance Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Agroforestry To Enhance Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Agroforestry and the environment

et al. 2021

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“…Among these, WCHS shared the highest proportion of species with Lamto (36.1%) and Oumé (30.6%), both in Côte d'Ivoire, and shared 25% of the species assemblage found in the Ashanti region (Tables 4, 5). The ant biodiversity study in the Ashanti Region, mostly wet evergreen tropical forest, (Belshaw & Bolton, 1994) marks the first and only major ant biodiversity study in Ghana that was not focused on agroforest, particularly cocoa plantation, assemblages (Akesse‐Ransford et al., 2021; Room, 1971; Stephens et al., 2016).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regionally unique ant assemblages associated with community‐based conservation in northwestern Ghana

Sosiak,

Longair,

Agba

et al. 2023

Biotropica

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Community‐based conservation can play an important role in preserving biodiversity, but it is unclear whether such benefits extend to invertebrate communities; in particular, baseline data for insect communities is lacking to assess efficacy of conservation efforts. Here we evaluate ant assemblages across three habitats, protected within the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary (WCHS) in the Upper West Region of Ghana. We compare relative ant species diversity and uniqueness between the sanctuary's Guinea savannah, riparian forest, and floodplain habitats. Ants were collected with other invertebrates using malaise traps, pitfall traps, and yellow pan traps between 2001 and 2011 multiple times per year. From these data, we compiled a list of ant species found, castes collected, and functional groups, and evaluated the differences in ant diversity among the habitats using accumulation curves, assemblage structure comparison, and Morisita‐Horn indices. We also compared the overall WCHS assemblage to other ant assemblages in Western Africa to gain a clearer understanding of relative diversity and uniqueness. We collected 83 species from seven subfamilies and 44 genera; 14 of the species were previously unrecorded in Ghana, including one ant species new to science. Ant species diversity differed among habitats in assemblage composition but not significantly in species richness. We found that the WCHS ant assemblage was relatively unique, sharing only about 35% of species found in similar Côte d'Ivoire habitats, and 25% of other Ghanaian assemblages. Some species present in the WCHS were not found in any of the other compared assemblages. We conclude that community‐based conservation initiatives like the WCHS may play an important role in conserving the biodiversity of ants.

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“…But they noted a low population from April to June in both regions. Several authors have considered trophic factors such as the physiology of cocoa trees to be the main cause and climatic factors (including rainfall and temperature) as indirect causes of fluctuating capsid populations (Adja et al, 2005;Babin, 2009;Adu-Acheampong et al, 2014;Kouamé et al, 2014Kouamé et al, , 2015Akesse-Ransford, 2016). They have indicated that variations of capsid populations are strongly influenced by the availability and quality of food resources through the circulation of sap in pods and regrowth on which these insects feed.…”

Section: ) Comparison Of Population Densities Based On Collection Met...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Abundance and Dynamics of the Main Heteroptera Pests of Cocoa Tree in the Orchards of the Department of Méagui (South-West, Côte d’Ivoire)

Guessan-Bi¹,

Kouame²,

Kwadjo³

et al. 2022

JAS

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The capsids Sahlbergella singularis and Distantiella theobromae, the cocoa mosquito Helopeltis sp., and the green bug Bathycoelia thalassina are the main Heteroptera pests causing immense damage in cocoa fields in the department of Méagui, the main cocoa producing area of Côte d’Ivoire. The actual study was conducted to assess the spatial and temporal distribution of these pests in this department. From May 2020 to April 2021, the pest abundance and population dynamics were recorded once a month in seven selected cocoa farms in the localities of Yaodankro and Sérigbangan. Tarping and systematic search methods were used. The results indicated that the three types of insect pests are present and the abundance rates ranging from 20.83% to 42.22% from 15 910 individuals recorded. Capsids were more abundant in the Sérigbangan orchards than in those of Yaodankro, while the cocoa mosquito and the green bug were more abundant in Yaodankro than in Sérigbangan. The number of individuals remained relatively high throughout the year except in May-June (months of intense rainfall) where capsid and cocoa mosquito populations were less abundant. Peak populations occurred during the dry season (July, August, February, and March-April) and during the low/medium rainfall season (September and November). The cocoa mosquito and the green bug once considered minor pests were shown to be major pests.

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Arthropod diversity of cocoa farms under two management systems in the Eastern and Central regions of Ghana

Cited by 11 publications

References 36 publications

Agroforestry and the environment

Agroforestry and the environment

Regionally unique ant assemblages associated with community‐based conservation in northwestern Ghana

Abundance and Dynamics of the Main Heteroptera Pests of Cocoa Tree in the Orchards of the Department of Méagui (South-West, Côte d’Ivoire)

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