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Carabidae diversity in olive orchards in Crete, Greece. The effect of agroecological zone and management system
* 1 , 1, 2 , 1, 2 , 2 , 2 , 1 , 1 , 3 , 1
1  Olive, Vine and Agroecological Production Systems Lab (EOPS), Department of Agriculture, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Estavromenos str., 71004 Heraklion, Greece
2  HMU
3  Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, Knossou Avenue, 71409 Heraklion, Greece.
Academic Editor: Kevin Cianfaglione

Abstract:

In the island of Crete (Greece), olive orchards are the most common tree crop. The microclimate, but also the landscape, has an overall effect in the functioning of the olive agroecosystem. Factors related to olive orchard management, climate and landscape contribute substantially to the diversity of indicator organisms such as coleoptera. Carabidae are one of the best bioindicators for the protection of ecosystems. Carabidae beetles are important, because they are sensitive to anthropogenic interventions, such as the use of insecticides and heavy metal accumulation in agroecosystems. Carabidae fauna of olive orchards was for the first time investigated in Crete. During the period of October 2021–October 2022, we surveyed carabidae beetles on a monthly basis, using pitfall traps, in 18 olive orchards under different management systems (organic, conventional, abandoned) located across two agroecological zones, i.e., hilly and plain. In each orchard, five traps were placed containing propylene glycol. We found 14 different genera and identified 12 species. The most common species were Carabus banoni and Tapinopterus creticus. Olive orchards in the hilly zone presented higher populations than the plain ones, while higher populations were found in the organic orchards. The differences in richness between agroecological zones appear to be a result of altitudinal differences in relation to air temperature and humidity, although this requires further investigation. The geographic proximity of the studied fields hampers strong differences in species composition. This is a first attempt to understand the impact of human (agricultural) activities on carabidae beetles in the Mediterranean region. We highlight the importance of organic olive orchards as sites of increased carabidae diversity. Further research is required to evaluate carabidae as potential indicators for assessing the impact of agriculture on biodiversity.

Keywords: diversity metrics, agroecosystems, carabidae, organic farming, human impact.
Comments on this paper
Laura Schejter
My recommendation for the continuation of these studies is to explore more statistical analyses of diversity, as this work only presents the numbers of specimens captured and a percentage graph of the identified morphospecies. These may be preliminary results, but to be able to assert differences or not between sites and conditions, more studies are needed, considering different diversity indices, Hill numbers, rarefaction curves, etc. It is also possible to include (in a poster) that these are the next steps to take and that it is a 'work in progress' study.
Anyway... nice job and good luck with the Carabids!
Ioannis Chasourakis
Dear Laura Scejter,

First of all I would like to thank you for your interest and your well aimed comments. The fact is that untill now ( the project is still in process ), we are focused on the collection and identification of carabidae species. The next stage of course is going to include a complete statistical analysis. We have in mind some things but we are strongly intetrested in having an expert opinion. We would be thankful if you could suggest one (or more) way of data analysis.

Kind Regards

Ioannis Chasourakis

Mariela Pavón Novarin
Hi Ioannis!
I'm Mariela, a PhD student and I work with Laura.
I'm working on the taxonomy of sponges from the Burdwood Bank. I' ve conducted some basic diversity analyses to compare the richness of sponges in different areas within the Burdwood Bank and its surrounding regions. You can find two posters in the gallery related to Diversity Analysis (one about the sponges from Burdwood Bank and another on benthic diversity in the Patagonian scallop fishing grounds along the Argentine shelf-break front). We used non-parametric richness estimators to know the estimated richness and rarefaction/extrapolation curves to compare diversity between areas or years.
I'm providing you with some references that I hope will help you determine if this analysis is suitable for your study.
-Chao, A., & Jost, L. (2012). Coverage‐based rarefaction and extrapolation: standardizing samples by completeness rather than size. Ecology, 93(12), 2533-2547.
-Mo, H. (1973). Diversity and evenness: a unifying notation and its consequences. Ecology, 54, 427-432.
-Assessment, A. E. M. Biological Diversity: Frontiers In Measurement And Assessment By Anne E. Magurran; Brian J. McGill.
-Colwell, R. K., & Coddington, J. A. (1994). Estimating terrestrial biodiversity through extrapolation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 345(1311), 101-118.


Kind regards,

Laura Schejter
Hi again!
In addition to the analyses Mariela has suggested, I think you also have an excellent opportunity to interact with other people who are also working with carabids and have presented a study at this conference. Best of luck!

See
https://sciforum.net/paper/view/18925
Ioannis Chasourakis
Dear Mariela and Laura

Thank you very much for your immediate response. I have already saved your posters and kept the suggested references. I m sure that will find useful iformation for the selection of the propriate analysis. Please let me contact you again in case I need more information.

Best regards

Ioannis



 
 
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