SIMILARITY AND ABUNDANCE OF HYMENOPTERA NATURAL ENEMIES IN A PLANTATION OF EUCALYPTUS SPP. AND IN AN AREA OF NATIVE VEGETATION

ABSTRACT

The objective of this work was to analyze the abundance of Hymenoptera natural enemies and the existence of a gradient of diversity in an Eucalyptus plantation, at the border of this plantation and in an area of native vegetation. The analysis of the dendogram for the Hymenoptera showed that these points formed two groups of similarity. Points located withing the Eucalyptus plantation formed a group similar among themselves while those inside the native vegetation and at its border formed another group. The histogram of abundance showed a few number of families with high number of individuals per family at points inside the Eucalyptus plantation. Those points located in the interior of the native vegetation and at its border presented highest number of families with lower number of individuals. This shows that the heterogeneity of the native vegetation is important for integrated pest management in reforested ecosystems aiming to increase numbers of beneficial species for biological control.

Key words:
Hymenoptera; Eucalyptus spp.; diversity