Influence of a cover crop on ants and dermapterans in banana plantations: consequences for the regulation of the banana weevil

Abstract

The banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus Germar is the most important pest of banana and plantain. In banana agroecosystems, cover cropping is a practice that prevents the use of herbicides and may provide natural habitats for generalist predators. Here, we assessed the effect of a cover crop, Paspalum notatum Flüggé on the ant community, dermapterans and C. sordidus. In investigating the dumps of Pheidole jelskii Mayr colonies, we found that most of carcasses belonged to other ant species (> 96%) and very few (< 1%) belonged to C. sordidus. In plots with banana plants and with and without a cover crop, the occurrences of almost all ant species were negatively correlated with each other, but the occurrence of ants was not correlated with weevil abundance. However, we found a negative relationship between the abundances of dermapterans and C. sordidus, both of which were negatively related to presence of the cover crop. These results indicate that dermapterans are probably the main biological control agents of C. sordidus and that cover cropping may increase C. sordidus regulation.