Importance of patches and corridors with native vegetation to increasing Hymenopteran biodiversity in vineyards

Abstract

The Uco Valley (Mendoza-Argentina) has undergone important changes in the last 18 years, due to the implantation of large extensions of vineyards with landscape monotonization. The natural vegetation adjacent to the vineyard can promote biodiversity of beneficial fauna, which would allow the recovery of valuable ecosystem services, such as pest control. One objective of this work was to measure Hymenopteran biodiversity using transects that crossed vineyard, border and patch of natural vegetation. Another objective was to measure the functioning as a corridor of a vegetation strip (vineyard boundary) at variable distance from the natural patch. The species caught with Moericke traps were identified and then classified by their function as: pollinators, predators or parasitoids. A total of 104 species of Hymenoptera were captured; 36 exclusive of the ‘vineyard-patch’ fringe, 45 of the corridor and 23 shared by both interfaces. The greatest number of species and diversity was found on ‘border’, while the highest number of individuals was found in the patch 25 m from border. The group of parasitoids was the most abundant in number of individuals, being greater in patch and border. The vegetated strip functioned as a corridor especially for parasitoids, even at distances greater than 600 m from the patch. Within the crop, the pollinators decreased while the predators augmented. It is concluded that maintaining patches and corridors with native plants in the vineyard environment favors the environmental heterogeneity and the diversity of hymenopterans potentially beneficial to the vine.