DIVERSIDADE DE HIMENÓPTEROS PARASITOIDES EM DOIS FRAGMENTOS FLORESTAIS DO IF GOIANO – CAMPUS RIO VERDE

Abstract

Parasitoid wasps are considered natural enemies of insect pests, acting as a biological control agent. They lay their eggs in the host, whose larvae feed on them, killing them. Many groups of parasitoid insects are still taxonomically poorly known, and much of their diversity is not yet described. The objective of this study was to carry out an inventory of the parasitoid hymenopteran community in two forest patches of the Cerrado region in Southwest Goiás with different sizes and also evaluate the effect of humidity and temperature in parasitoid diversity. Moreover, we performed a preliminary survey to compare the diversity in different environments (matrix-edge-interior). Insects were sampled using pan traps for seven months within the two forest fragments. Additional sampling in matrix, border, and interior environments in a forest fragment was performed. No differences were observed in species richness and abundance or diversity indices (Shannon and inverse Simpson) in the two studied locations. Moreover, environmental variables did not significantly affect the diversity of parasitoid wasps, despite graphical analyses suggesting a negative effect of humidity on some diversity indices. A preliminary analysis suggests different compositions of insect communities in the matrix, edge, and interior environments. Rarefaction analyses indicate a similarity in diversity indices within the three environments, despite a trend of higher diversity (mostly in Hill diversity of order 2) in the interior than in the edge.