Influence of strips of native vegetation on Lepidoptera associated with Eucalyptus cloeziana in Brazil

Abstract

Faunistic analyses were made to evaluate the effect of cerrado (Brazilian savannah) native vegetation on Lepidoptera associated with Eucalyptus cloeziana plantations. The insects were collected with light traps in five sampling sites for each system of Eucalyptus cultivation (i.e., with and without strips of cerrado) every 15 days during 6 months. A total of 5511 individuals of 459 species and 16,021 individuals of 300 species were collected in areas with and without strips of cerrado. In areas with the first system, a higher number of species was collected within the strips of cerrado vegetation, the four most frequent species accounting for ±20% of the individuals collected; nine species were constant (present in 50% to 100% of the samples) among the 23 most important ones, four of these were accessory (present in 25 to 50% of the samples) and ten accidental (present in 0 to 25% of the samples). The diversity was higher in the intersection of the habitats and smaller within the eucalypt plantation. In the system without strips of native vegetation, a higher number of species was collected in the native vegetation; the intersection between native vegetation and eucalypt plantation was similar in terms of species composition with a smaller number of species being collected within the eucalypt plantation. The three most frequent species in this habitat accounted for ±31% of the individuals collected; nine species were constant, nine were accessory and eight were accidental. The diversity indexes were higher in the plantation with cerrado strips than in the plantation without cerrado strips. These results suggest that the establishment of strips of native vegetation within Eucalyptus plantation may be a beneficial tactic in the management of defoliator Lepidoptera pests in Eucalyptus forests.