How agriculture and climate change affect spiders and insects

How agriculture and climate change affect spiders and insects https://noticiasdelaciencia.com/upload/images/11_2018/1536_como_afectan_la_agricultura_y_el_cambio_climatico_a_aranas_e_insectos.jpg?17

How agriculture and climate change affect spiders and insects





The diversity of the arthrophauna (arachnids and insects) of a medium is an indicator of the degree of affection of that environment. With this premise, researchers from the Faculty of Agrarian Sciences of UNCuyo (Argentina) set out to study, for the first time, the situation of an agroecosystem based on its biodiversity, that is, the greater or lesser presence of these species in it.

 

To do this, they compared the results obtained in a forest ecosystem and in a bordering vineyard in Tupungato, Valle de Uco (Mendoza). The objective was, in addition to analyzing the richness and abundance of the arthropods in both areas, to evaluate how it impacts the sum of agricultural practices characteristic of vitiviniculture in them.

 

"It is always said that when you start a crop it has a negative impact on insects and spiders," says Rodrigo López Plantey, an agronomist who led the research. "Knowing if there is presence or not of spiders is a bioindicator of contamination, for example. They are very sensitive to the agricultural practices that are carried out and also to climate change, "he adds.

 

The research team used a methodology called RBA (Rapid Biodiversity Assessment), which allows us to quickly obtain results of the richness and abundance of morphospecies in an environment. "We talk about morphospecies and not species because insects are classified according to the similarity in their form. It is a New Zealand technique to measure impact quickly. Because if you have to classify each species of arthropod is endless. And it is economically unfeasible ", explains López Plantey.

 



 

(Photo: Argentina Investigates)

 

Samples were taken from a field survey with traps in 24 georeferenced sampling points. From the captured arthropods, the morphospecies richness and their abundance are determined under a microscope, in order to establish the biodiversity indexes. It is necessary to clarify that only those individuals with a size greater than 2 mm were considered.

 

The first results "were very surprising," says the researcher. Certain arthropods, such as spiders, were more favored in the vineyard than in the bush. One explanation we have is the vegetation cover between the rows of vines, because the spiders in the area are more crawling and having plant cover, there are more prey, more food. That allowed us to later face another study on how the spider impacts in the vineyard, especially in the fight against lobesia botrana ". They also detected more bees in the bush and more flies in the vineyard.

 

For López Plantey, this supposes the existence of favorable conditions in each environment for a certain group of morphospecies; and allows in the long term "to establish the loss or not of diversity, the presence of exotic organisms, the prevalence of certain species, among other points, which is presented as a key of great importance for the good integrated management of the crop and the conservation of the artropological wealth of Mendoza ".

 

What the study intends, in short, is to assess the adaptation of the vineyard to climate change "so that the producer can adapt their cultural practices and minimize damage to the crop", the agronomist explains and exemplifies: "For example, favoring the spiders with green in the interfile; or stop implementing water stress in a desert. "You have to put in check practices that are adapted from outside and are not necessary," closes López Plantey. (Source: Argentina Investiga)
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