Use of arthropods for the evaluation of the olive‐orchard management regimes

Abstract

1 The presence and abundance of arthropods were compared in three olive orchards under organic, integrated and conventional management regimes. In each olive orchard, trees were sampled in the canopy by beating branches and soil arthropods by placing pitfall traps. Contrary to expectations, the highest abundance of arthropods occurred in the integrated management orchard. The most abundant groups were Formicidae and the species Euphyllura olivinae (Homoptera: Psyllidae). 2 Canopies and the soil under the tree canopy (interior soil) were selected as the most informative sites for sampling. The months with the strongest differences were May, June and July, especially June. In the canopy, Araneae, Coleoptera, Diptera, Heteroptera, Hymenoptera, Homoptera, Lepidoptera, Neuroptera and Thysanoptera were the most abundant, and showed significant differences in abundance among orchards with different management regimes. Moreover, in the canopies, Coleoptera and Lepidoptera showed a seasonal pattern of abundance and consistent significant differences between the organic orchard vs. the integrated and conventional ones in both years of study. In the soil, 12 orders showed significant differences in abundance among management regimes at some point of the sampling season. 3 In a search for biological indicators that could help to distinguish between management regimes, a discriminant analysis applied to the data indicated that only the samples from the canopy were classified according to their management regime in a consistent way over time. The groups selected by the analysis to establish differences among management regimes were Coleoptera, Diptera, Heteroptera, Lepidoptera and Thysanoptera. The analysis applied to compare organic vs. non-organic olive orchards, again identified Coleoptera and Lepidoptera as suitable groups. The results suggest that these two orders are potential bioindicators to distinguish, in a simple way, organic olive orchards from non-organic ones.

Los crisópidos de la Península Ibérica y Baleares (Insecta, Neuropterida, Neuroptera: Chrysopidae)

“…: Ramos et al, 1983;Campos, , 2001Ros et al, 1988;Bichão & Araújo, 1989;Araújo & Bichão, 1990;Boelpaepe et al, 1992;Núñez Pérez et al, 1992;Pantaleão et al, 1993;McEwen & Ruiz, 1994;Pantaleão, 1994;Viñuela et al, 1996;Morris et al, 1998;Vilajeliu et al, 1998;Martins et al, 1999Martins et al, , 2002, 2006Ocete et al, 2000;Ruano et al, 2001Ruano et al, , 2004Urbaneja et al, 2001;Alvis et al, 2003;Pérez Otero et al, 2005;Porcel et al, 2011Porcel et al, , 2013Nave et al, 2012, etc., por citar algunos).…”

Evaluation of the effects, on canopy arthropods, of two agricultural management systems to control pests in olive groves from north-east of Portugal

“…Olive grove is an agroecosystem that supports a wide range of diverse and functionally important groups of arthropods (Morris et al, 1999;Rodríguez et al, 2003;Ruano et al, 2004). The canopy arthropod community has a complex structure that includes functional groups with phytophagous, predators, parasitoids and detritivores species (Rodríguez et al, 2003;Ruano et al, 2004).…”

Soil arthropod biodiversity in plain and hilly olive orchard agroecosystems, in Crete, Greece

“…The highest seasonal number of significant differences between agroecological zones was found in spring (seven taxa), followed by summer (three taxa) and then autumn and winter (two taxa each). Other surveys, comparing olive management systems, found highest numbers of different taxa in May and June (Cotes et al 2010), as well as in July (Ruano et al 2004), with most differences occurring in June.…”

“…In Santos et al (2007) were the third most abundant taxon, after Formicidae and Collembola, from April to July. In Ruano et al (2004) were the fifth and ninth most abundant in two-year study from March to October. …”