1. Biodiversity for production
Smartgrass
This research has been funded by the Research
Stimulus Fund, Department of Agriculture, Food and
the Marine: Grant No. 11/S/147
Smart grassland systems:
Relating multi species swards to parasitoid Hymenoptera as
diversity bioindicator of arthropod population in grassland
www.smartgrass.ie
Results/Discussion
Parasitic Hymenoptera and Coleoptera were most abundant in plots with a mixture of
legume, herb and grass (Figure 1). These results indicate that multi-species swards
support a greater abundance of parasitic Hymenoptera and Coleoptera. A comprehensive
study has shown that the abundance of parasitic Hymenoptera can be used effectively
to predict overall arthropod taxon richness in agro-ecosystems (Anderson et al., 2011).
Multi-species swards have huge potential for transforming agricultural grassland
ecosystems in Ireland from those supporting small, non-diverse populations of
invertebrates to those supporting a more diverse community, which may lead to
enhanced ecosystem functioning and improved provision of ecosystem services.
References
Anderson, A. et al. (2011) The potential of parasitoid Hymenoptera as bioindicators of arthropod diversity in
agricultural grasslands. Journal of Applied Ecology, 48, 382-390.
www.Britannica.com/animal/hymenopteran
Clausen, C.P et al. (1978) Introduced parasites and predators of arthropod pests and weeds. Agricultural Hand book
U.S. no 480
Cornell, J.A. (2002) Experiments with Mixtures: Designs, Models, and the Analysis of Mixture Data, 3rd edition. Wiley,
Chichester.
Introduction
Hymenoptera are considered principal insect pollinators. The mutualism of flowering
plants and many species of bees and wasps is firmly established, the Hymenoptera
plays a vital ecological role.
However the ecological significance of parasitic hymenoptera might well overshadow
that of pollination, (www.britannica.com)
Hymenoptera the most prolific and opportune of insects parasites, exert a profound
and subtle trophic control over other populations of arthropods, that otherwise might
overpopulate and imbalance an ecosystem. All this been said the role as indicator of
insect pest is indisputable.
Parasitic hymenoptera are good, kind to environment replacement for chemical use
against pest.
They form an important component in biological control of insects pests, the parasitic
hymenoptera has been the moust succesful. (Clausen 1978, Nojes 1985)
Materials & methods
The Smart grass system it is, a simulate grazing experiment, which uses: 24 mixtures of 1 to
9 plant species per mixture. The mixtures proportions have been established using a
simplex-centroid design, (Cornell,2002) combining 9 sp. of plants, from 1 to 3 functional plant
groups (grasses, legumes and herbs) treated with 4 levels of nitrogen( 0, 45,90,135 kg N
/ha-1 gr-1 ).
The insect have been collected from 132 plots, using a Vortis Suction Sampler (Burkard
Mihaela Ilie, Rochelle Fritch,
*
Niamh Sullivan , Helen Sheridan
UCD School of Agriculture & Food Science,
*Corresponding author: Rochele.fitch@ucd.ie
R
Figure 1. Contour plots from multiple regression analysis, interaction effects of legumes & herbs for: (a) parasitic Hymenoptera ( p=0.08, r 2
= 94.4%) (b) Coleoptera (p=0.02, r 2
= 97.76%), n=8.
Abundance of
parasitic Hymenoptera
>
–
–
–
–
–
–
< 20
20 25
25 30
30 35
35 40
40 45
45 50
50
Grass
100:0:0
Grass & Legume
70:30:0
Grass & Herb
70:0:30
Ratios are
grass : legume : herb
Abundance of
Coleoptera
Grass
100:0:0
Grass & Legume
70:30:0
Grass & Herb
70:0:30
Legume & Herb
40:30:30
Legume
40:60:0
Herb
40:0:60
>
–
–
–
–
< 20
20 24
24 28
28 32
32 36
36
Legume & Herb
40:30:30
Legume
40:60:0
Herb
40:0:60
(a) (b)