116977

Biodiversity and Population Dynamics of Natural Enemies in the Western Desert Agro-Ecosystem, Egypt

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

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Abstract

Extension of the newly reclaimed areas for agriculture in Egypt has obviously affected the microclimate of the insect pests, which seriously threatens the cultivated field crops. Besides, the role of the major natural enemies must be carefully understood. Therefore, a field study was conducted in El-Farafra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt to assess biodiversity and population dynamics of major natural enemies found associated with three field crops (faba bean, cotton, and alfalfa) by sweep-net and beat and shake sampling. The species diversity of natural enemies included 27 species, 23 genera, 14 families belonging to six orders and the total abundance of these species was 5098 individuals sampled during 2018 and 2019. The most common insect order was Coleoptera (composing 42.2% of the total abundance) followed by Hymenoptera (28.1%) and Neuroptera (17.8%), whereas the smallest number of individuals found in Odonata (2.1%). Similar population dynamics of natural enemies in the three crop fields were observed during the two seasons, and most species showed a positive correlation with temperature and negative correlation with relative humidity. The values of species diversity, richness, and evenness indices were higher in the alfalfa field (2.529, 2.623, and 0.846, respectively).

DOI

10.21608/eajbsa.2020.116977

Keywords

El-Farafra Oasis, field crops, biodiversity, Population dynamics, natural enemies

Authors

First Name

Wael

Last Name

EL-SHEIKH

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Beni-Suef University, Egypt, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt address:

Email

wael.elzaher@agr.bsu.edu.eg

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Orcid

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First Name

Ahmed,

Last Name

El-Kenway

MiddleName

H.

Affiliation

Biological Control Department, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Egypt

Email

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City

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Orcid

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First Name

Mustafa,

Last Name

Soliman

MiddleName

M.

Affiliation

Department of Entomology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, P. O. 12613, Egypt

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Orcid

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Volume

13

Article Issue

4

Related Issue

17651

Issue Date

2020-12-01

Receive Date

2020-06-25

Publish Date

2020-12-01

Page Start

1

Page End

14

Print ISSN

1687-8809

Online ISSN

2090-0813

Link

https://eajbsa.journals.ekb.eg/article_116977.html

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https://eajbsa.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=116977

Order

1

Type

Original Article

Type Code

667

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences. A, Entomology

Publication Link

https://eajbsa.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Biodiversity and Population Dynamics of Natural Enemies in the Western Desert Agro-Ecosystem, Egypt

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Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023