Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera.

The growing demand for reducing chemical inputs in agriculture and increased resistance to insecticides have provided great impetus to the development of alternative forms of insect-pest control. Myco-biocontrol offers an attractive alternative to the use of chemical pesticides. Myco-biocontrol agents are naturally occurring organisms which are perceived as less damaging to the environment. Their mode of action appears little complex which makes it highly unlikely that resistance could be developed to a biopesticide. Past research has shown some promise of the use of fungi as a selective pesticide. The current paper updates us about the recent progress in the field of myco-biocontrol of insect pests and their possible mechanism of action to further enhance our understanding about the biological control of insect pests.

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Myco-Biocontrol of Insect Pests: Factors Involved, Mechanism, and Regulation

Arthropods are critical ecosystem components due to their high diversity and sensitivity to perturbation. Furthermore, due to their ease of capture they are often the focus of environmental health surveys. There is much debate regarding the best sampling method to use in these surveys. Sweep netting and pan trapping are two sampling methods commonly used in agricultural arthropod surveys, but have not been contrasted in natural grassland systems at the community level. The purpose of this study was to determine whether sweep netting was effective at estimating arthropod diversity at the community level in grasslands or if supplemental pan trapping was needed. Arthropods were collected from grassland sites in Montana, USA, in the summer of 2011. The following three standardized evaluation criteria (consistency, reliability, and precision) were developed to assess the efficacy of sweep netting and pan trapping, based on analyses of variations in arthropod abundances, species richness, evenness, capture frequency, and community composition. Neither sampling method was sufficient in any criteria to be used alone for community-level arthropod surveys. On a taxa-specific basis, however, sweep netting was consistent, reliable, and precise for Thysanoptera, infrequently collected (i.e., rare) insects, and Arachnida, whereas pan trapping was consistent, reliable, and precise for Collembola and bees, which is especially significant given current threats to the latter's populations worldwide. Species-level identifications increase the detected dissimilarity between sweep netting and pan trapping. We recommend that community-level arthropod surveys use both sampling methods concurrently, at least in grasslands, but likely in most nonagricultural systems. Target surveys, such as monitoring bee communities in fragmented grassland habitat or where detailed information on behavior of the target arthropod groups is available can in some instances employ singular methods. As a general ecological principle, consistency, reliability, and precision are appropriate criteria to evaluate the applicability of a given sampling method for both community-level and taxa-specific arthropod surveys in any ecosystem.

Sweeping beauty: is grassland arthropod community composition effectively estimated by sweep netting?

Terrestrial plethodontid salamanders are abundant predators within the forest floor litter of eastern North America, and are hypothesized to regulate soil and litter invertebrate density and species composition. I tested this hypothesis during a 6-yr study of the effects of the Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) on the invertebrate community of a forest site in northeast Ohio. Salamander surface density, invertebrate abundance, and community composition were monitored within 30 open, circular plots. Variation in plot occupancy by P. cinereus was achieved by supplying plots with differing amounts of artificial cover (0, 1, or 4 ceramic tiles) that served as refuges for the salamanders. Salamander plot occupancy, invertebrate density, leaf litter mass, and leaf litter moisture were quantified each spring and fall from 2003 through 2008. Statistically significant effects of salamander plot-occupancy on invertebrate densities were found for several taxa of mesofauna, including severa...

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Top-Down Regulation of Litter Invertebrates by a Terrestrial Salamander

Riparian areas have experienced long-term anthropogenic impacts including the effects of plant introductions. In this study, 27 plots were surveyed across three Mediterranean rivers in north-eastern Spain to explore the effects of the invader giant reed (Arundo donax) on riparian habitat features and the diversity, trophic structure, body size, and abundances of epigeal and hypogeal arthropods in riparian areas. Using pitfall traps and Berlese funnels, this study detected a significant increase in collembola abundance and a decrease in the abundance, body size and diversity of macro-arthropods at order and family levels in invaded plots compared to native stands. Invaded and un-invaded areas also differed in the taxonomical structure of arthropod assemblies but not in trophic guild proportions. However, the fact that arthropods were smaller in A. donax soils, together with the absence of particular taxa within each trophic guild or even an entire trophic group (parasitoids), suggests that food-web alterations in invaded areas cannot be discarded. Habitat features also differed between invaded and un-invaded areas with the poorest herbaceous understory and the largest leaf litter deposition and soil carbon stock observed in A. donax plots. The type of vegetation in riparian areas followed by the total native plant species richness were identified as major causal factors to changes in the abundance, diversity and composition of macro-arthropods. However, our analyses also showed that some alterations related to A. donax invasion were inconsistent across rivers, suggesting that A. donax effects may be context dependent. In conclusion, this study highlights an impoverishment of native flora and arthropod fauna in A. donax soils, and suggests major changes in riparian food webs if A. donax displaces native riparian vegetation

Impacts of the invader giant reed (Arundo donax) on riparian habitats and ground arthropod communities

Little is known about the ground-dwelling arthropod diversity in tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) Due to unique habitat conditions in TMCFs with continuously wet substrates and a waterlogged forest floor along with the innate biases of the pitfall trap, Berlese funnel and Winkler extractor are certain to make it difficult to choose the most appropriate method to sample the ground-dwelling arthropods in TMCFs Among the three methods, the Winkler extractor was the most efficient method for quantitative data and pitfall trapping for qualitative data for most groups Inclusion of floatation method as a complementary method along with the Winkler extractor would enable a comprehensive quantitative survey of ground-dwelling arthropods Pitfall trapping is essential for both quantitative and qualitative sampling of Diplopoda, Opiliones, Orthoptera, and Diptera The Winkler extractor was the best quantitative method for Psocoptera, Araneae, Isopoda, and Formicidae; and the Berlese funnel was best for Collembola and Chilopoda For larval forms of different insect orders and the Acari, all the three methods were equally effective

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A comparison of the pitfall trap, Winkler extractor and Berlese funnel for sampling ground-dwelling arthropods in tropical montane cloud forests.

First-time comprehensive data on the community structure, species composition and regional endemism of dung beetle assemblage in a tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF) from South Asia is provided. ...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/194008291100400103

Cloud Forest Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) in the Western Ghats, a Global Biodiversity Hotspot in Southwestern India:

Species composition, distribution patterns and endemism are outlined for the dung beetles in the ecoregions of the western slopes of the moist South Western Ghats, South India. Among the 142 dung beetle species known, 35 are endemic to the Western Ghats; 29 are endemic to the moist South Western Ghats; 25 are regionally endemic to the South Western Ghats montane rain forests ecoregion; and one each to the Malabar Coast moist deciduous forest ecoregion and the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests ecoregion. Five species, including the 3 flightless species, are local endemics to the upper montane tropical montane cloud forests. The montane rain forests ecoregion has the highest number of endemics in the moist south Western Ghats and the moist deciduous forests ecoregion and Malabar Coast moist deciduous forest ecoregion have the lowest levels of endemism. Of the 137 dung beetle species known prior to the deforestation and habitat modification of the region, only 87 have been collected recently.

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Faunal survey, endemism and possible species loss of Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in the western slopes of the moist South Western Ghats, South India

S. Nithya

Papers

A comparison of the pitfall trap, Winkler extractor and Berlese funnel for sampling ground-dwelling arthropods in tropical montane cloud forests.

Cloud Forest Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) in the Western Ghats, a Global Biodiversity Hotspot in Southwestern India:

Faunal survey, endemism and possible species loss of Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in the western slopes of the moist South Western Ghats, South India