(Hemiptera: Aphididae) and ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

BIHAREAN BIOLOGIST 9 (1): 63-65
Article No.: 141134
©Biharean Biologist, Oradea, Romania, 2015
http://biozoojournals.ro/bihbiol/index.html
Abundance and diversity of aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and ladybirds
(Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) population in wheat fields of Urmia, northwestern of Iran
Nouraddin SHAYESTEH1, Hossein RANJI2 and Masumeh ZIAEE3,*
1. Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Science, Mahabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mahabad, Iran.
2. Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, West Azerbaijan, Iran.
3. Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.
* Corresponding author, M. Ziaee, E-mail: m.ziaee@scu.ac.ir
Received: 31. July 2014 / Accepted: 27. October 2014 / Available online: 24. April 2015 / Printed: June 2015
Abstract. Abundance and species diversity of aphids and ladybirds in three wheat fields located in Urmia city were studied in 2010
and 2011. Samplings were conducted with 120 plants in the wheat fields from mid-April to late July. Species richness was measured
using Shannon and Simpson indices. Six aphid species (Aphididae) and five coccinellids (Coccinellidae) were identified in the fields.
Among the collected aphid species, Schizaphis gramimun (Rondanii) and Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker) were most abundant in
the fields. For coccinellids, Coccinella septempunctata L. was the most abundant species. Highest aphid species diversity was observed
on 17 April 2010. No aphid species was found after 15 July of both years.
Key words: Aphids, Coccinellida, diversity, population, Urmia, wheat.
Introduction
Cereals are one of the major dietary crops for human.
Among them, wheat is highly consumed by human and
known as a strategic product (Shewry 2009); because most
governments using direct protection instruments to safeguard local production of wheat. Iran is a traditionally selfsufficient country, with about 47% of daily caloric intake
from wheat (Ahmed et al. 2013). In 2000, one of the important goals of Jihad-e- keshavarzi Ministry of Iran was to
reach self-sufficiency in crop production and in 2004 wheat
self-sufficiency was happened (Farhadian et al. 2012).
Several species of aphids have been reported in Iran.
Schizaphis gramimun (Rondanii) and Sitobion avenae (Fabricius) are the most abundant species in the wheat fields (Afshari and Dastranj 2010; Kamangar & Malkeshi 2010).
Aphids are the major pest insects in the wheat fields; for example, they reduce the grain protein by feeding on wheats
and inject toxic enzymes into plants during feeding
(Rakhshani et al. 2008). Coccinellids are major natural enemies of cereal aphids and control numerous species of wheat
aphids. The larvae and adults of coccinellids consume
aphids and reduce the rate of increase of aphid's colony (Caballero-López et al. 2012).
The simplest way to measure species biodiversity is to
count the number of species present in a designated area
(Okpiliya 2012). Kamangar and Malkeshi (2010) reported the
species and abundance of wheat aphids and coccinellids in
Kurdistan province. There were 7 aphid and 6 coccinellid
species in the fields. The most abundant aphid and ladybird
species were S. avenae (66.5%) and S. gramimun (30%), Hippodamia variegata Goeze (60%) and C. septempunctata (37%).
Diversity indices provide information about community
composition. Diversity indices are measured by species richness (the total number of species present) and species evenness (the distribution of the individuals within species designations); therefore, it could give us more ecological information rather than a simple species list in the fields (Okpiliya 2012). Although there are numerous studies on the diversity of cereal aphids in Iran, no studies have been conducted in the wheat fields of West Azerbaijan. West Azerbaijan has fewer limitations for wheat production and also it
can be suggested as rainfed cultivation because of its low
stress. Therefore, West Azerbaijan has the high level of rainfed wheat production in Iran (Ghadiryanfar et al. 2009; Shahbazi & Rosa 2010).
The aim of this study was to investigate the abundance
and species diversity of cereal aphids and their predatory
ladybirds using the Shannon's (H) and Simpson’s Indices of
diversity at various time intervals throughout two years in
Urmia-West Azerbaijan.
Materials and methods
General information of sampling
Sampling of cereal aphid and ladybirds populations were conducted
every two weeks during the growing season of 2010 and 2011 in
three half-acre fields of wheat, Triticum aestivum L., (Var. Zarin) located in Urmia city. The sampling wheat fields were in Saatloo station (37°44'18"N 45°10'53"E), Nazloo (37°39'35"N 44°58'48"E) and
Tizkharab village (37°38'45"N 45°27'7"E). Wheat was planted in November (both 2010 and 2011 year) and sampling was conducted from
mid-April in tillering stage of wheat till late July in heading and
flowering stage. Sampling was performed from a corner of the field
and continued throughout the field in a “Z” pattern (MacRae 1998).
A total of 120 plants were selected randomly from each field. Each
plant was uprooted by hand and put in a mesh covered semitransparent plastic bag. Each bag was labeled with the information
of the sampling date and location. In the laboratory, a cotton-pad
soaked in chloroform and placed in each plastic bag for 5 min until
the insects were died. Subsequently, aphids and ladybirds were
identified and their number was counted.
Equations
The Shannon-Wiener’s (equation 1) (Magurran 1988) and Simpson’s
(equation 2) (Simpson 1949) diversity indices were used to calculate
the diversity. The Pielou’s (equation 3) (Price 1997) and Simpson’s
(equation 4) indices were used to calculate evenness of aphids and
coccinellids communities.
Equation 1: Shanon’s diversity indices:
No
H ′ = −∑ [ pi log pi ]
i =1
where, pi is the proportion of ith species among all collected
samples, and s is the total number of species in the community.
Equation 2: Simpson’s diversity indices:
N
1− D = 1− ∑
i =1
ni (ni − 1)
N ( N − 1)
where, 1-D: Simpson’s index, ni: number of individuals in ith
N. Shayesteh et al.
64
species, N: total number of individuals in all collected species.
The highest Shanon’s (H’) diversity index of aphids was
obtained on 17 April (1.251) followed by 1 June (1.158) with
equitability indices of 0.698 and 0.646, respectively (Table 3).
where, s is the total number of species in the community (rich- The highest Simpson’s index (0.686) was also calculated on
17 April (Table 3). In 2011, the highest Shanon’s index of
ness) and H’ is Shanon’s diversity index.
aphids was calculated on 30 May (0.881) followed by 15
Equation 4: Simpson’s equitability (evenness):
April (0.868); however, for Simpson’s index, the highest
D
1
1
ED =
*
= s
2
aphids diversity index was reported on 15 June (Table 4).
Dmax ∑ Pi S
i =1
Generally, diversity indices of aphids in 2010 were higher
than 2011.
Results
Coccinella septempunctata was more abundant compared
to the other species (Table 5). Diversity indices of ladybirds
Six species of wheat aphids belonging to Aphididae family were higher in 2011 than 2010. Simpson’s diversity index of
were identified including Schizaphis gramimun (Rondani), ladybirds in 2010 and 2011 were 0.33 and 0.37, respectively
Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker), Sitobion avenae (Fabricius), indicating that the possibility of selecting two different speRhopalosiphum padi L., Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko) and Rho- cies of coccinellids is 33% in 2010 and 37% for 2011.
palosiphum maidis Fitch. Also, five species of coccinellids
were identified including Coccinella septempunctata, Hippodamia variegata Goeze, Adalia bipunctata L., Psyllobora vigin- Discussion
tiduopunctata L., Scymnus sp. and Brumus octosignatus Gebler.
Table 1 and 2 showed the number and the frequency of oc- In this study six aphid and five coccinellid species were
currence of aphid species in 2010 and 2011, respectively. identified. Aphid numbers increased throughout the season
Schizaphis gramimun and M. dirhodum were the most abun- from 90 aphids on 17 April 2010 to a maximum of 456 aphids
dant aphid species in the fields (Table 1 and 2).
on 17 June 2010 after time which they began to decline again.
H′
Equation 3: Pielou’s evenness:
J=
Ln(S )
Table 1. Frequency of occurrence of aphid species at different time intervals in wheat fields of Urmia in 2010.
Species
17.April
1. May
17. May
1. June
17. June
1. July
17. July
1. August
Number
Relative frequency (%)
S. granirum
42
138
260
360
248
98
0
0
1146
44.84
S. avena
22
40
65
170
120
20
0
0
438
17.14
M. dirhodum
16
192
380
230
78
0
0
0
896
35.05
D. noxia
0
0
0
25
10
0
0
0
35
1.37
R. padi
10
5
18
0
0
0
0
0
33
1.29
R. madidis
0
8
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
0.31
Total
90
383
723
785
456
118
0
0
2556
100
Table 2. Frequency of occurrence of aphid species at different time intervals in wheat fields of Urmia in 2011.
Species
S. granirum
S. avena
M. dirhodum
D. noxia
R. padi
R. madidis
Total
15. April
14
5
48
0
2
0
69
30. April
28
10
188
0
6
0
232
15. May
45
4
210
0
1
0
260
30. May
134
25
230
0
2
0
391
15. June
142
72
102
2
2
0
320
30. June
155
68
0
10
0
0
233
15. July
28
48
0
3
0
0
79
30. July
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Number
546
232
788
15
13
0
1594
Relative frequency (%)
34.25
14.55
49.43
0.95
0.82
0
100
Table 3. Diversity indices of aphid’s community at different time intervals in wheat fields of Urmia in 2010.
Diversity indices
17. April
1. May
17. May
1. June
17. June
1. July
Total
H
1.251
1.087
1.014
1.158
1.068
0.455
1.088
EH
0.698
0.606
0.566
0.646
0.596
0.253
0.607
1-D
0.686
0.608
0.586
0.656
0.606
0.283
0.6466
ED
0.518
0.424
0.402
0.484
0.422
0.231
0.471
Table 4. Diversity indices of aphid’s community at different time intervals in wheat fields of Urmia in 2011.
Diversity indices
H
EH
1-D
ED
15. April
0.868
0.484
0.475
0.313
30. April
0.655
0.365
0.327
0.247
15. May
0.561
0.3134
0.318
0.244
30. May
0.881
0.492
0.533
0.356
15. June
0.124
0.627
0.652
0.477
H: Shanon’s Index, EH: Shannon's equitability, 1-D: Simpson’s index, ED: Simpson’s equitability
30. June
0.765
0.427
0.472
0.314
15. July
0.794
0.443
0.510
0.335
Total
1.0396
0.580
0.617
0.435
Abundance and diversity of aphids and ladybirds population in wheat fields of Urmia
Table 5. Frequency of occurrence and relative frequencies of ladybird’s community in wheat fields of Urmia during 2010 and 2011.
2010
2011
Species
No.
C. septempunctata
100
79.36
91
77.12
H. varigata
24
19.04
22
18.64
A. bipunctata
0
0
2
1.69
P. vigintiduopunctata
0
0
1
0.85
B. octosignatus
2
1.58
2
1.69
126
100
118
100
Total
Relative
frequency (%)
No.
Relative
frequency (%)
Table 6. Diversity indices of ladybird’s community at different time
intervals in wheat fields of Urmia during 2010 and 2011.
2010
2011
H
0.565
0.645
EH
0.351
0.400
1-D
0.336
0.373
ED
0.100
0.102
H: Shanon’s Index, EH: Shannon's equitability,
1-D: Simpson’s index, ED: Simpson’s equitability.
On 1 July 2010, only two S. granirum and S. avena species
were observed in the region and their population ceased and
reached to zero on 17 July. A similar trend was observed in
2011. Parry et al. (2004) expressed biotic factors such as high
temperature and continuous rainfall can also reduce aphid's
populations.
Wheat fields are sprayed by pesticides in urgent cases
only when Sunn pest (Eurygaster integriceps Puton) populations become above the economic level. In Iran, the main infestation areas of sunn pest are in the provinces of Teheran,
Markaz, Esfahan, Fars, Bakhtaran, Kurdistan, Lorestan, Zanjan, Ealam and Khorasan (Rassipour et al. n.d.). Our findings
indicated that there was a large population of C. septempunctata in the fields. It seems the presence of high ladybird species in the wheat fields is because the fields are not sprayed
by pesticides. However, the results showed that at the end of
the sampling period in both years ladybird populations was
decreased significantly. The population decline coincided
with ripening wheat suggest migration of coccinellids to
other shelters, especially for summer aestivation. Grez et al.
(2013) stated that coccinellids were more abundant when
surrounding landscapes had more native shrublands and
semi-urban areas than in those with more annual crops.
Therefore, the presence of regular patches around the fields
and landscape composition and heterogeneity affects not
only the composition of coccinellids but also the efficacy of
these biological control agents.
Zhao et al. (2013) stated that abundance, species richness
and diversity increased with increasing plant diversity and
landscape complexity. In our study, small and simple structure of the landscapes were examined that expected to decrease the richness of the aphids and ladybirds. Diversity
indices depend not only on species richness but also on the
evenness, or equitability, with which individuals are distributed among the different species (Okpiliya 2012). In our
study, maximum and minimum value of Simpson's index for
coccinellids community was 0.686 on 17 April 2010 and 0.283
on 1 July 2010. The Simpson's index of aphids in 2010 and
65
2011 were 0. 0.647 and 0.617, respectively. This suggests that
the possibility of selecting two different species of aphids
randomly in the checked fields in 2010 was 64% while for the
year 2011 the possibility was 61%. For coccinellids, Simpson's index was 0.336 and 0.373 for 2010 and 2011, respectively. The low species diversity index (Simpson) could be
due to the uniform distribution of individuals among species.
Because of limitations, only three fields were evaluated
in this study. So, the provided list is certainly show just a
part of the region fauna and for preparing a complete list of
aphids and coccinellids in West Azerbaijan province an extended area-wide study will needed.
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