Abstract
Arthropods are essential in maintaining healthy and productive agricultural ecosystems. Agricultural crops such as apples are typically pollinated by domesticated honey bees, but wild bees and other arthropod flower visitors also contribute to pollination. Flower visitors can also be natural enemies of crop-pests or herbivores. Biodiversity is under pressure and knowledge of wildflower visitors is an important tool in designing orchards that can support high functional biodiversity. In our study, we assessed the diversity of arthropod flower visitors in four Danish apple orchards using both molecular and nonmolecular techniques to study arthropod communities in agricultural ecosystems. Arthropod DNA collected from apple flowers was analyzed using a DNA metabarcoding approach using the mitochondrial COI marker, while arthropod pollinators were recorded through visual assessment surveys. These complementary techniques resulted in a total of 19 arthropod taxa detected. Nonbee arthropods constituted a large proportion of arthropods detected by both methods (84%, 16 taxa). Metabarcoding detected 12 taxa and had 83% species resolution. Visual census recovered flower visiting groups to the order level (Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera) but not species level and also provided relative abundance data, which is not possible with molecular methods. We demonstrated that by utilizing both molecular and nonmolecular techniques to assess arthropod communities, we are able to obtain a broader overview of the arthropod fauna present. The methodology used and the outcome of this study can be used to inform and tailor suitable arthropod-pest management practices in orchards to increase crop yield and maintain healthy agricultural systems.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Tidsskrift | Environmental DNA |
| Vol/bind | 5 |
| Udgave nummer | 1 |
| Sider (fra-til) | 117-131 |
| Antal sider | 15 |
| ISSN | 2637-4943 |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - 2023 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:Research by LS and NGG was funded in part by the BEESPOKE project “Benefitting Ecosystems through Evaluation of food Supplies for Pollination to Open up Knowledge for End users” J-No.: 38-2-2-19, founded by the Interreg VB North Sea Region program. PYSC was supported by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 765000, H2020 MSCA-ITN-ETN Plant.ID network. For generating the Illumina data, we would like to thank the staff at AllGenetics. We would like to extend our gratitude to Karen Jensen, University of Copenhagen, and Helle Mathiasen, HortiAdvice, for helping us to collect samples in the field. Lastly, we appreciate the help that Pablo Castro, David Escobar, and Ismael Rodriguez provided for the biodiversity and statistical analyses.
Funding Information:
Research by LS and NGG was funded in part by the BEESPOKE project “Benefitting Ecosystems through Evaluation of food Supplies for Pollination to Open up Knowledge for End users” J‐No.: 38‐2‐2‐19, founded by the Interreg VB North Sea Region program. PYSC was supported by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 765000, H2020 MSCA‐ITN‐ETN Plant.ID network. For generating the Illumina data, we would like to thank the staff at AllGenetics. We would like to extend our gratitude to Karen Jensen, University of Copenhagen, and Helle Mathiasen, HortiAdvice, for helping us to collect samples in the field. Lastly, we appreciate the help that Pablo Castro, David Escobar, and Ismael Rodriguez provided for the biodiversity and statistical analyses.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Environmental DNA published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.