Abundance and diversity of the order Coleoptera in vineyards from different wine regions of Portugal

• Autor(a) principal: Taranto, Luisa
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/23170
• topic: Entomofauna; Grapevine; Vegetation cover; Auxiliary fauna; Ecosystem services; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Agrárias::Agricultura, Silvicultura e Pescas

Insects of the order Coleoptera plays an essential role in managing and enhancing the sustainability of agricultural ecosystems by supporting relevant ecosystem services. Currently, they are the largest group of insects ever described and they are present in almost all agricultural environments. In vineyards, Coleoptera may occupy different ecological niches, highlighting the predatory action of some families against important vine pests. In this sense, the present study aimed to evaluate the abundance and diversity of Coleoptera’s families and species of Coccinellidae in the vine canopy and vegetation cover of vineyards from different Portuguese Wine Regions, namely, Bairrada, Beira Interior, Douro, Península de Setúbal, Trás-os-Montes, and Vinhos Verdes. For this, in 2019, on three different periods (July, September, and October), the vegetation cover of 36 vineyards scattered in the different wine regions were sampled. For each plot, 20 samples were collected, ten in the canopy and ten on the vegetation cover, using the sweeping technique. In total 2954 Coleoptera individuals were collected belonging to 36 families, among these, 315 were Coccinellidae grouped in 22 species. The most abundant families were Chrysomelidae, Coccinellidae and Latridiidae. For Coccinellidae species, the most observed ones were Scymnus apetzi, Scymnus interruptus and Coccinella septempunctata. Results points toward a higher abundance of Coleoptera families and Coccinellidae species at the Douro Region. Most specimens were concentrated in July and at the vegetation cover, for all the Wine Regions. Vegetation cover was found to have a great importance in Coleoptera and Coccinellidae refugee and performance shelter as a microhabitat within the vineyards. The diversity index of Coleoptera indicates a higher diversity in July at Douro grapevines. Also, for Coccinellidae species, the higher diversity in canopy and in vegetation cover was observed in July and September, respectively in the same region. Further studies on pests and natural enemies’ dynamics, the use of different variables and increase sampling dates should address non explained patterns in this study.