Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ABUNDANCE AND COMPOSITION OF ARTHROPOD VISITORS ON REFUGIA BLOCKS IN A PADDY FIELD IN MALANG EAST JAVA, INDONESIA

Amin Setyo Leksono, Jati Batoro and Anisa Zairina

Abstract

A study on the effect of refugia blocks on Arthropod abundance, diversity and composition has been done in an organic paddy field in Malang, from March to June 2017. The observations were made by using visual encounter surveys conducted 3 times (morning, noon and afternoon) a day on each of the 6 plots of refugia and wild grass without refugia as control. Types of refugia plants used were chili (Capsicum frutescens), wild cosmos (Cosmos caudatus), the ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula), and long beans (Vigna unguiculata). The block size was 0.5 x 2 meter square. The visual encounter surveys method was conducted for 15 minutes on each plot. There were 2695 individuals of Arthropod observed visually consisted of 1938 individuals in Refugia blocks and 757 individuals in grasses (control). Overall the samples showed that refugia blocks were visited by 58 families of Arthropod, while the grasses were visited by 40 families. Overall, Formicidae was dominated the sample composing of 70.2% of total individuals in Refugia and 50.2 individuals in grasses. The other dominant families were Chlorophidae, Pieridae, Libellulidae, Muscidae, Coenagrionidae and Coccinelidae. The mean of Arthropod abundance were higher in Refugia blocks (35.89 ± 2.81) than that in grasses (14.02 ± 1.36), and this statistically different (P<0.01). The mean of Arthropod taxa richness was higher in Refugia (7.35 ± 0.33) block than that in grasses (4.61 ± 0.34), and this statistically different (P<0.001) (Table 2). The mean of Arthropod diversity was higher in Refugia blocks (1.18 ± 0.07) than that in grasses (1.10 ± 0.06) but statistical analysis was not significant. The abundance of common predator families such as Libellulidae and Coenagrionidae were higher in grasses, while Coccinellidae was vice versa.