Effects of productive management of an agroforestry system on the associated diversity of parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Abstract

Tropical agroecosystems have emerged from the continuous modification of natural environments, as a sustainability alternative for food production and biodiversity conservation. This work explores how the diversity of parasitoids is modified in environments where plant diversity is limited e.g. crops and when these are adjacent to secondary vegetation, i.e. a scenario fragmented continuously in a limited space. It was found that there is no direct effect of plant diversity in the group of parasitoids studied; but the number of specialist species is high, which indicates that in diversified agroecosystems these probably function as remnants of natural habitat or as a refuge for parasitoids that disperse to different types of management within the agroecosystem. Therefore, it is necessary to consider in future studies the controls exerted by the plant diversity effects bottom-up and consumer top-down. Adding to this the context of the interactions that occur in agroecosystems.