Arthropods on Abandoned Apple Trees: Comparison of Orchard Versus Alley

Abstract

Occurrence of arthropods on abandoned apple trees was studied in 2010 and 2011. The research was carried out in South Moravia (Czech Republic). Two sites were selected within this area – apple trees (Malus domestica) in an alley along a road and an abandoned apple orchard. At each location, arthropods were collected from 5 separate trees. Deltamethrin was applied into the treetops using a fogger. The killed arthropods were collected 15 minutes after the application. From among the collected data, 48 families were determined in accordance with a generalized linear model with a logarithmic-link function and Poisson distribution. As a result it was found that 33 families have significantly higher abundance in the abandoned orchard and 9 families in the alley. According to the Shannon-Wiener index, diversity of families was higher in the alley in both years (2010: H’ = 3.016, 2011: H’ = 3.177) compared to the abandoned orchard (2010: H’ = 2.413, 2011: H’ = 3.007).

Keywords

• arthropod diversity
• <i>Malus domestica</i>
• fogger
• pests
• natural enemies