Highest Insect Abundance Research Articles

Population Abundance and Frequency of Visits Forcipomyia spp. (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) on Cocoa Plantations in Lima Puluh Kota District, Indonesia

Forcipomyia spp. is a pollinator insect on cacao plants that belongs to the Ceratopogonidae Family, Diptera Order. The objectives of this research were to determine the abundance of the insect population of Forcipomyia spp. in Lima Puluh Kota District and to determine the frequency of visits of those insects to cacao flowers. This research was conducted on a small smallholder plantation in Sungai Talang Village, Lima Puluh Kota District. Then, the samples obtained were identified at the Andalas University Laboratory. This research was conducted using a survey method and purposive sampling technique. Five cacao plants were selected in each plot of land, and then three flower beds per plant were selected to bloom. Sampling was carried out by installing yellow sticky traps. The insects obtained were put into a collection bottle filled with 96% alcohol to preserve those insects, and then the abundance of Forcipomyia spp. Insects were calculated. The research results showed that the highest insect abundance was in Jorong Guguak Nunang: 1.260 individuals, then in Jorong Bukik Apik: 1.061 individuals and the lowest was in Jorong Boncah: 1.045 individuals. The highest frequency of visits was in the morning, with an average of 648 individuals/60 minutes. The insect diversity index based on the Shannon-Wienner Diversity Index in Jorong Guguak Nunang was 1,97; in Jorong Boncah, it was 2,21; in Jorong Bukik Apik was 1,88, and all of it is in the medium diversity level category.

Killing Method Influences Decomposition, Entomofauna and Successional Pattern of Exposed Juvenile Pig Carcasses in Wukari, Nigeria

Homicide-related crimes (especially juveniles) are serious problems in Africa and particularly, in Nigeria, with little success in apprehension of culprits recorded due to a lack of substantial forensic data to aid investigation processes. To aid the mitigation of this challenge, two juvenile pigs were killed (one by slaughtering and the other by strangulation) at the Research Garden of the Biological Sciences Department, Federal University Wukari, Nigeria. Both carcasses were left exposed to sunlight 25 m apart, while being protected from vertebrate scavengers using meshed metal cages. Observable postmortem changes on both carcasses were recorded while adult insect sampling using a combination of aerial net, pitfall traps and manual searching continued from the fresh to dry stages of decomposition for both carcasses. Data from sampled insects obtained were used to compute abundance, frequency of occurrence and dominance at each decomposition stage. Appropriate diversity indices were obtained using the Paleontological Statistical Tool-Past3, while similarity in entomofauna between both carcasses was determined using Jaccard’s index. Although both carcasses completed decomposition in 14 days, the strangulated carcass had faster active and advanced stages with prolonged dry stage vis-à-vis the slaughtered carcass. Also, the slaughtered carcass had higher insect abundance (895) than the strangulated carcass (781), with peak diversity and richness at the advanced stages. The slaughtered carcass was also observed to have higher diversity and richness values (1.942, 2.517) than the strangulated carcass (1.801, 1.597). Five (5) dominant insects (Hister monitor, Dermestes maculatus, Zophosis sp., Chrysomya chloropyga, and Pheidole sp.) invaded the strangulated carcass while Crematogaster sp. invaded the slaughtered carcass in addition to these. Overall, over 60% total species similarity and 80% dominant species similarity existed between the carcasses. Hence the killing methods used in this study largely influenced variations in the duration of the five decomposition stages, observable postmortem changes as well as insect abundance but the succession of invading insects was largely similar.

Inventarisasi Serangga Pada Pertanaman Jeruk Nipis (Citrus Aurantifali) di Desa Plosogenuk Kecamatan Perak Kabupaten Jombang

This research was conducted at September – November 2020 with the aim of knowing the types of pests and diseases that predominantly attack lime in Perak District, Jombang Regency. This research is descriptive quantitative, namely direct sampling from the observation location, using traps such as trap holes, trap nets and direct observations on lime plantations. Sampling of all plants will be the sampling point (30 plants. Observations were made 10 repetitions, with an observation time interval of 3 days. The pest data obtained were identified and analyzed using the abundance index (K) and Dominant index (C) formulas. The pest identification study obtained 504 individuals consisting of 6 species. The highest insect abundance (K) value was found in the Coccidae family with the Order Homoptera, which was 53,968. The dominance index value was 0.29 indicating the result that there was no dominant family in this study planting.

Dung inhabiting insects, their diversity, abundance and bio ecology of coprine beetles

The insects most prominently colonized in a nutrient-rich fresh dung habitat are mainly beetles and flies and the group is termed collectively, the dung community. Coprophagous insects play an important role in tropical ecosystems by providing essential functions including mechanically breaking down excrement into smaller-sized particles, mixing of organic matter in the soil, soil aeration, nutrient cycling and to remove unhealthy materials from their surroundings. Against this backdrop, present study is an attempt to assess the insect diversity and abundance inhabiting dairy farm dung community in North & South 24 Parganas, West Bengal along with the study on the life cycle pattern of frequently encountered dung beetle taxa, Oniticellus cinctus (Fabricius) and to observe their role in the decomposition. Altogether 2 dung beetles, 4 dung loving beetles, 8 dung loving flies, 17 dung associated insects of different groups, one mesostigmatic mite species are recorded from cow and buffalo dung community during the study period. December is the period of maximum dung beetle abundance. Beetle activity gets greatly diminished with the rise of temperature above 30 °C. The brood ball made by the functional group ‘Dwellers’ is for oviposition. The brood balls provide the immatures with an assured food supply. Egg to adult developmental period ranges between 43-51 days. The teneral adult period observed under laboratory conditions is 2-3 days. Our findings show that extensive management practices result in more pats with higher insect abundances. Data proves that the members of these two orders, Coleoptera and Diptera are almost perfectly separated seasonally. Flies are most abundant in the premonsoon while beetles during monsoon and postmonsoon. Season is therefore the main temporal axis separating ecologically similar species of dung-inhabiting insects in tropical habitats, while succession aggregates species that may have similar environmental tolerances. This separation between ecologically similar taxa of beetles and flies may be attributable to either competition-based niche segregation or to temperature tolerance-based habitat filtering.

Consumption of spiders by the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) and the long-eared myotis (Myotis evotis) in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada

Intraspecific variation in diet and (or) foraging behaviour is one way in which species are able to occupy wide geographical areas with variable environments. The little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus (Le Conte, 1831)), a primarily aerial insectivorous bat, consumes spiders in low temperatures at the start and end of summer in Northwest Territories, Canada, but it consumes spiders all summer, even during high aerial insect abundance, in Alaska, USA. There are no competitors of M. lucifugus in Alaska, but there are in Northwest Territories, suggesting that aerial insect abundance and competition from gleaning bats influences when M. lucifugus consumes spiders. In the Kananaskis area of the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada, we investigated spider consumption by M. lucifugus and the long-eared myotis (Myotis evotis (H. Allen, 1864)), a species more adept at gleaning, to better understand when bats consume spiders. Fecal sample analysis indicated that M. evotis consumed spiders all season long, with greater consumption when the bats were caught near water. Myotis lucifugus did not consume spiders at all. This suggests that M. lucifugus opportunistically consumes spiders when encountered, but does not encounter them in Kananaskis where it forages primarily over open water, unlike in Northwest Territories where it forages in the interior of forests and may encounter spiders more frequently.

Keanekaragaman Serangga Polinator Pada Tanaman Nanas (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) Di Desa Bincau

Pollinator insects is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. The purpose of this study was to determine the diversity of insects pollinators in the pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) plantation of Bincau Village, Martapura District, Banjar Regency, South Kalimantan. Sampling was done by purposive sampling using a yellow sticky trap. The customer observations are made in visual control. Observation starts at 07.00-18.00 WITA which is divided into 3 time periods, namely: 07.00-10.00 WITA, 11.00-14.00 WITA and 15.00-18.00 WITA. The data obtained were analyzed using the diversity index Shannon-Wiener (H'). The results showed that the total individual of pollinator insects in pineapple plantations was 517 individuals, consisting of 4 order and 8 family. The highest abundance of insects is dominated by the Formicidae Family, while the lowest abundance is the Syrpidae Family. Value insect pollinator diversity found among the sites that H' = 1.760 which indicates that the level of diversity of insect pollinators on plantations Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) in the Bincau Village, Martapura District, Banjar Region, South Kalimantan in the medium category.
 
 Keywords: Diversity, Pollinator Insects, Pineapple, Bincau District

Insect abundance in managed forests benefits from multi-layered vegetation

Retention forestry intends to promote biodiversity by retaining deadwood and tree-related microhabitats. Simultaneously, production forests undergo major structural changes by conversion into near-natural forests. As insect biomass is declining, it is important to understand how insect communities respond to management-related changes in forest structure. While some structural elements, such as deadwood, are studied extensively, three-dimensional forest structure is often neglected. Terrestrial laser scanning offers new approaches to quantify three-dimensional structure but their suitability has not been evaluated with field-based insect surveys.To test how insect communities respond to forest structure, we examined insects from window traps from 122 sites in the Black Forest. For total insect abundance and for the seven most abundant taxa, we related deadwood, microhabitats, various conventional stand properties and novel remote sensing-based indices for vegetation structure to total and taxon-specific abundances. Additionally, we assessed the influences of these structural elements on community composition.Total insect abundance and abundances of most taxa were positively related to multi-layered stands, as derived from remote sensing techniques. Furthermore, each taxon responded to some additional forest structural elements. Higher tree diameter, canopy gap fraction and share of deciduous trees increase abundances of the predominantly herbivorous taxa Heteroptera, Sternorrhyncha and Auchenorrhyncha. Community composition was influenced by mean tree diameter and share of deciduous trees. Neither tree-related microhabitats nor deadwood diversity had a detectable effect on insect abundance.We conclude that more elements of forest structure than previously acknowledged are related to insect populations. In particular, multi-layered forest stands have higher insect abundances in the midstorey. The current conversion in continuous-cover forestry in Europe from even-aged, often conifer-dominated forests to uneven-aged, mixed species stands can therefore increase the abundance of a wide range of insect taxa and is possibly one strategy to halt insect decline in forests.

Keanekaragaman Dan Kelimpahan Serangga Polinator Pada Perkebunan Mentimun (Cucumis sativus L) Desa Waiheru Ambon

Pollinator insects are insects that play a role in pollination, namely intermediaries pollinating plants. The purpose of this study was to determine the abundance and diversity of insects pollinators in the Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L) Plantation of Waiheru Village, Baguala District, Ambon City. Sampling was done by purposive sampling using a yellow glue trap (Yellow sticky trap). The customer observations are made in visual control. Observation starts at 07.00 WIT until 18.00 WIT which is divided into 3 time periods, namely: 07.00-10.00 WIT, 11.00-14.00 WIT and 15.00-18.00 WIT. The data obtained were analyzed using the diversity index (H ') according to Shannon and Wiener. The results showed that the total abundance of pollinator insects in vegetable plantations was 1220 individuals, consisting of 3 orders and 5 families. Insect families that play a role in the process of pollination are Family Apidae, Formicidae, Syrpidae, Muscidae and Papilionidae. The highest abundance of insects is dominated by the Formicidae Family while the lowest abundance is the Papilionidae Family. Value insect pollinator diversity found among the sites that H '= 1.21 which indicates that the level of diversity of insect pollinators on plantations Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L) in the Waiheru Village, Baguala District, Ambon City in the medium category.

The Diversity of Insect in Paddy Field in Karawang, West Java with Different Pest Management Techniques

The practice of rice crop cultivation will affect the trophic structure and the diversity of insects that are formed. One of the common cultivation practices carried out by farmers was the control of pests by using pesticides. This study aimed to find out which pest management strategies that are effective in maintaining environmental health and understanding how natural enemies were affected by the application of synthetic pesticides. The first treatment was paddy field with integrated pest management (IPM), the second treatment was conventional rice field with a technique of chemical pest management (C-T), while the third treatment was mixed pest management (M-T). Insect sampling was conducted using sweep net, pitfall trap, and direct observation for 10 weeks after planting. Overall, it was found 100 morphospecies, 9 Orders, 56 families, with a total abundance of 6242 individuals per planting season. Based on functional roles it was found 39% as herbivores, 30% as predators, and 14% as parasitoids, 1% pollinators, and 13% decomposers. High insect diversity and abundance were found in the plots using low synthetic pesticides. The C-T control plot had a lower relative abundance of herbivorous insects, parasitoid insects, predators, and decomposers than the other control plots. H' and D index in the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Mixed Pest Management (M-T) plots did not show significant differences but differed significantly from the Chemical Control plot (C-T). Therefore, controlling the herbivore insects could apply the pest management based on IPM strategies. Keywords: Diversity of insects, integrated pest management (IPM), natural enemies, pesticides, rice pests

Contribution to the Study of Diversity, Distribution, and Abundance of Insect Fauna in Salt Wetlands of Setif Region, Algeria

The present study aims to assess entomofauna biodiversity at three saline wetlands, located in Setif region, Northeastern Algeria. To determine the predominant environmental factors in the distribution of entomofauna, six different stations and three transects in each station were chosen according to the distribution of plant and soil salinity in each transect. Results were analysed, and different ecological indexes and analytical methods were applied, from 2016 to 2017. The total of individual insects belonging to 9 orders, 71 families, and 131 species were collected from the three sites. The highest abundance was in Coleoptera (38.17%) while the lowest abundance was found in Ephemeroptera (1.53%). The highest number of individuals (11438) was found in Bazer site in 2016, while the lowest number of individuals (4921) was in site Chott Frain in 2017. The highest abundance of insects (109) was recorded in transect BS1T16, and the lowest abundance of species was recorded in transect HS1T36. Diversity and equitability indices showed highest values in HS1T16 (H = 4,356) and HS1T37 (E = 0.7282). Some ecological parameters showed a significant relationship between the insects occurrence, distribution of plants, and type of soil.

Altered Soil Properties Inhibit Fruit Set but Increase Progeny Performance for a Foundation Tree in a Highly Fragmented Landscape

Failing to test multiple or non-standard variables in studies that investigate the effects of habitat fragmentation on plant populations may limit the detection of unexpected causative relationships. Here, we investigated the impacts of habitat fragmentation on the pollination, reproduction, mating system and progeny performance of Eucalyptus wandoo, a foundation tree that is bird and insect pollinated with a mixed-mating system. We explored a range of possible causative mechanisms, including soil properties that are likely to be altered in the agricultural matrix of a landscape that has naturally nutrient-poor soils and secondary soil salinization caused by the removal of native vegetation. We found very strong negative relationships between soil salinity and fruit production, thus providing some of the first evidence for the effects of salinity on reproduction in remnant plant populations. Additionally, we found unexpectedly higher rates of seedling survival in linear populations, most likely driven by increased soil P content from adjacent cereal cropping. Higher rates of seed germination in small populations were related to both higher pollen immigration and greater nutrient availability. Trees in small populations had unexpectedly much higher levels of pollination than in large populations, but they produced fewer seeds per fruit and outcrossing rates did not vary consistently with fragmentation. These results are consistent with small populations having much higher insect abundances but also increased rates of self-pollination, combined with seed abortion mechanisms that are common in the Myrtaceae. This study highlights the need to better understand and mitigate sub-lethal effects of secondary soil salinity in plants growing in agricultural remnants, and indicates that soil properties may play an important role in influencing seed quality.

Long-term deer exclosure alters soil properties, plant traits, understory plant community and insect herbivory, but not the functional relationships among them

Evidence of the indirect effects of increasing global deer populations on other trophic levels is increasing. However, it remains unknown if excluding deer alters ecosystem functional relationships. We investigated how sika deer exclosure after 18 years changed soil conditions, the understory plant community, the traits of a dominant understory plant (Sasa palmata), herbivory by three insect-feeding guilds, and the functional relationships between these properties. Deer absence decreased understory plant diversity, but increased soil organic matter and ammonium concentrations. When deer were absent, S. palmata plants grew taller, with more, larger, and tougher leaves with higher polyphenol concentrations. Deer absence led to higher leaf area consumed by all insect guilds, but lower insect herbivory per plant due to increased resource abundance (i.e., a dilution effect). This indicates that deer presence strengthened insect herbivory per plant, while in deer absence plants compensated losses with growth. Because plant defenses increased in the absence of deer, higher insect abundances in deer absence may have outweighed lower consumption rates. A path model revealed that the functional relationships between the measured properties were similar between deer absence versus presence. Taken together, deer altered the abiotic and biotic environment, thereby changing insect herbivory, which might impact upon nutrient cycling and primary productivity. These results provide evidence that deer can alter interactions between trophic levels, but that functional relationships between certain ecosystem components may remain constant. These findings highlight the need to consider how increasing global deer populations can have cascade effects that might alter ecosystem dynamics.

The effect of local land use and loss of forests on bats and nocturnal insects

Land‐use intensification at local and landscape level poses a serious threat to biodiversity and affects species interactions and ecosystem function. It is thus important to understand how interrelated taxa respond to land‐use intensification and to consider the importance of different spatial scales. We investigated whether and how local land‐use intensity and landscape features affect the predator–prey interaction of bats and insects. Bats and nocturnal insects were assessed on 50 grassland sites in the Schorfheide‐Chorin. We analyzed the effect of local land use and distance to forested areas as a proxy for site accessibility on bats and insects and their biological interaction measured in bat's feeding activity. Insect abundance increased with higher land‐use intensity, while size and diversity of insects decreased. In contrast, bat activity, diversity, and species composition were determined by the distance to forested areas and only slightly by land‐use intensity. Feeding attempts of bats increased with higher insect abundance and diversity but decreased with insect size and distance to forested areas. Finally, our results revealed that near forested areas, the number of feeding attempts was much lower on grassland sites with high, compared to those with low land‐use intensity. In contrast, far from forests, the feeding attempts did not differ significantly between intensively and extensively managed grassland sites. We conclude that the two interrelated taxa, bats and insects, respond to land‐use intensification on very different scales. While insects respond to local land use, bats are rather influenced by surrounding landscape matrix. Hereby, proximity to forests reveals to be a prerequisite for higher bat species diversity and a higher rate of feeding attempts within the area. However, proximity to forest is not sufficient to compensate local high land‐use intensity. Thus, local land‐use intensification in combination with a loss of forest remnants weakens the interaction of bats and insects.

Aquatic insects of a lowland rainforest in Papua New Guinea: assemblage structure in relation to habitat type

AbstractPapua New Guinea is one of the most valuable tropical regions but ecological research of its freshwater invertebrates has been lacking. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the species richness, diversity and structure of aquatic insect assemblages in different habitats in the Wanang River catchment in a well-preserved lowland rainforest. Assemblage structure was studied on two spatial scales - in different habitats (river, streams and stagnant pools) and in three mesohabitats in the river (slow and fast sections and submerged wood). The results show that headwater streams had the highest morphospecies diversity, while the river had the highest insect abundance. Slow and fast sections of the river differed both in terms of insect abundance and diversity. Furthermore, a number of unique wood-associated species was found on submerged wood. The most notable feature of the assemblage structure was scarcity of shredders and dominance of predators. However, predatory beetles, bugs and dragonfly larvae exhibited contrasting habitat preferences. This study shows that Papua New Guinean lowland rainforests host diverse and distinctly structured freshwater insect assemblages.

Variaciones de la comunidad de visitadores florales de Bursera copallifera (Burseraceae) a lo largo de un gradiente de perturbación antropogénica

The change in environmental conditions and the level of anthropogenic disturbance affect the communities of floral visitors. Therefore, the community of floral visitors of Bursera copallifera in Jolalpan, Puebla, Mexico was identified and characterized, considering changes in some environmental variables (temperature, humidity and altitude) and the factors associated with a disturbance gradient. A multivariate quantitative index was used in order to calculate the disturbance in 13 zones of the locality. Three sites with different levels of disturbance were selected, and in each one, the floral visitors were collected. A total of 66 species were collected, belonging to 25 families, distributed in 5 insect orders. Hymenoptera and Coleoptera were the most abundant orders. Temperature and humidity were significantly different among hours and sites, and together with the disturbance factors, affected the community floral visitors structure and dynamics. The high-disturbance site had the lowest diversity, but the highest insect abundance. Apis mellifera was the most abundant species at the most disturbed site, but the disturbance effect was not clearly established due to the altitude variations among sites. The high diversity of insects found showed the importance of Bursera copallifera for this kind of ecosystems.

Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey

Agricultural expansion has led to the widespread destruction of habitats and the creation of fragmented landscapes. Woodland has been severely affected by habitat loss; remaining woodland is often highly fragmented and degraded, immersed in an agricultural matrix. Woodland is one of the most important habitats for bats because it offers roosting and feeding opportunities for many species. A number of agri-environment schemes aim to increase the amount and quality of woodland on agricultural land; however, little is known about how woodland character relates to bat abundance/activity and recommendations for woodland creation and management for foraging bats are scarce. We studied temperate bat communities and examined bat foraging activity and relative abundance (and insect prey availability) in 34 woodland fragments in agricultural landscapes using two complementary methods (acoustic monitoring and trapping assisted by an acoustic lure). We evaluated the relative importance of woodland vegetation character, patch configuration and surrounding landscape in order to assess the importance of local- vs. landscape-scale woodland management to bat populations. Bat abundance and activity were influenced by both local and landscape-level attributes. At the local scale, woodland vegetation character appeared more important than patch configuration. High activity levels of aerial hawkers (e.g. Pipistrellus species) were related to low tree densities and an open understory, while gleaning species (e.g. Myotis bats) showed the opposite trend. Areas of cluttered vegetation were associated with high insect (mostly Diptera) abundance and could act as sources of prey for certain bat species. Bats’ responses to the surrounding landscape depended on species mobility. For relatively low mobility species (e.g. Pipistrellus pygmaeus), local woodland character was more important than the landscape context, whereas the opposite was observed for higher mobility species (e.g. Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Myotis bats). Higher bat activity levels were observed in small and isolated woodland fragments, and in sparsely wooded landscapes. This may reflect a more intensive use of woodland in landscapes where this habitat is scarce, where woodland creation should be prioritised. Woodland management and creation schemes should encourage habitat heterogeneity to fulfil the requirements of different bat species.

Evaluating pollen flow indicators for an insect-pollinated plant species

For insect-pollinated plant species, reproductive success and genetic exchange via the transfer of pollen between flowers depends (i.a.) on the efficiency, abundance and behaviour of floral visitors. These in turn are expected to respond to plant population size and flower density. High floral densities for example usually attract large numbers of pollinators that visit more flowers per plant or patch, which increases pollen deposition at short distances. Thus, population characteristics might serve as indicators for pollen dispersal patterns and help to identify suitable habitat size and quality for conservation measures. To test this hypothesis, we observed floral visitors of a generalist, entomophilous species, Comarum palustre, and compared their abundance and visitation rates in populations of different sizes and flower densities. At the same time, we mimicked pollen flow using fluorescent dye. In the large and dense populations, pollinator abundance and visitation rates were high and dye was dispersed to the edges of the populations (up to 200m). In the medium-sized population with high flower density, insect abundance and visitation rates were unexpectedly low and dye dispersal declined very quickly. On the contrary, in the smallest population with scattered flowers, especially bumble bee abundance was similar to the large populations and dye dispersal mirrored this high bumble bee activity. Thus, our results indicate that in smaller habitat fragments, the mere size of a population might be insufficient to suggest pollen flow for a plant species. Instead, the abundance of its major pollinators should be considered.

The impact of plant associations onMacrosteles quadrilineatusmanagement in carrots

AbstractHabitat diversification can influence the interactions of insects with plants and this can be used in agroecosystems for the management of pest populations. Plant diversification can be achieved through planting crops, such as trap crops, or by adjusting weed management. Aster leafhopper,Macrosteles quadrilineatusForbes (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), is a polyphagous species that uses cereals, vegetables, and weeds as host plants. The influence of weeds onM. quadrilineatusabundance was investigated experimentally in carrot [Daucus carotaL. cv. Canada (Apiaceae)] field plots by adjusting the level of management of two groups of weeds (broadleaf and grass) and by comparing it to weed‐free plots. The preference ofM. quadrilineatusfor different cereal and weed species relative to carrots was tested in choice test assays. Habitat context influenced the abundance ofM. quadrilineatusin the field experiments. The presence of border crops such as oat, rye, barley, wheat, and triticale did not significantly attract or repel this insect to carrot plots compared to the no‐border treatment. However, spelt‐bordered plots had 42% fewerM. quadrilineatusthan three treatments, triticale, wheat, and barley, that had the highest insect abundance. The type of weed management affectedM. quadrilineatusabundance in carrot plots, but not the frequency of herbicide application. Plots that had carrot growing with broadleaf‐weeds had about 59% fewerM. quadrilineatuscompared with those growing with crabgrass or carrot alone. In the greenhouse choice tests, grasses (e.g., cereals) attracted and broadleaf‐weeds repelledM. quadrilineatusrelative to carrots. In summary, carrot growers may be able to manage this pest by reducing the interaction of cereal cover crops with carrots and eliminating grassy weeds in commercial production fields.

Are vegetation interfaces important to foraging insectivorous bats in endangered coastal saltmarsh on the Central Coast of New South Wales?

Conservation of insectivorous bats and their habitats is of increasing concern in Australia and linear elements in the landscape form important foraging habitats for many species. Only recently has use of endangered coastal saltmarsh habitat by bats been documented. Vegetation adjoining saltmarsh provides echolocating bats with linear elements that may be used while foraging and commuting to patches of high insect abundance. We used acoustic detectors to investigate whether individual species and total bat activity along seaward and landward saltmarsh edges was different to the interior of the saltmarsh. Four taxa accounted for greater than 80 % of all bat activity in each zone with similar taxa recorded in both edge and interior zones. However, significantly more bat activity was recorded in edge zones. While differences in microhabitat use by individual species were also found, bat morphology did not account for the observed differences. Conservation managers of saltmarsh and adjoining habitats should consider potential impacts of management actions on foraging bats and their prey. Retention of strips of edge vegetation may help to balance the conservation requirements of endangered coastal saltmarsh habitats and the foraging insectivorous bat populations they sustain.

Public information facilitates habitat selection of a territorial species: the eastern kingbird

The study of breeding habitat selection has focused mainly on physical characteristics of the environment such as nest sites and food abundance, both of which are required for successful reproduction. However, individuals may have limited time to make settlement decisions, and thus, their knowledge of resource availability may be incomplete. Furthermore, food abundance during settlement may not reflect levels later in the breeding season. An alternative perspective is that the most direct measure of habitat suitability is derived from social information such as the presence of conspecifics (conspecific attraction) or their reproductive performance (habitat copying). We tested resource and socially based hypotheses of habitat selection in a population of eastern kingbirds, Tyrannus tyrannus, at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon, U.S.A. Kingbirds nested in areas with a greater proportion of suitable nest trees than what was generally available, but many areas with suitable numbers of trees went unused. Kingbirds also settled in areas of relatively high insect abundance, but only in years when overall abundance was low. We also found support for the socially based hypotheses. Relative to where they nested previously, kingbirds tended to settle in areas of higher conspecific density. But, we found stronger evidence in favour of habitat copying, suggesting that dispersing individuals settled in areas that produced more fledglings in the previous year. Kingbirds thus appeared to select breeding habitat based, in part, on resource availability, but dispersal decisions may be influenced by social information, primarily past reproductive success of conspecifics.