Evaluation of arthropods diversity on apple crop (‘Red Delicious’) in Sidi Naâmane area (Tizi-Ouzou), Algeria

Abstract

Arthropods fauna contributes significantly to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. In this context an inventory of arthropods communities upon ecological apple plot, ‘Red Delicious’ is realized in Sidi Naâmane area (Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria). This study was conducted from November 2014 to December 2015, by combining different sampling techniques: sweep net, barber pot and colored traps. The results showed a total of 113 species distributed into 64 families, 10 orders and 3 classes, which are Arachnida, Enthognata and Insecta. The colored traps sampling method allowed collecting 63 species (with 30 % of pests), among which Coruna sp. is the most noted, with relative abundance of 6.77 %. The barber traps sampling method allowed collecting 56 species (with 42.88 % of pests), among which Harpalus paratus Casey, 1924 is the most frequent, with 6.51 %. The sweep net sampling method allowed collecting 80 species (with 33 % of predators), among which Coccinella algerica Kovář, 1977 is the most noted, with relative abundance of 5.32 %. The Shannon diversity index values ranged from 5.33 bits for the Barber pot traps method to 5.58 bits for colored traps and 5.90 bits for the sweep net technique.

Keywords

• inventory
• arthropods
• apple
• ‘Red Delicious’
• Sidi Naâmane
• Algeria