Differences in wing venation between parthenogenetic and bisexual species of Empoasca leafhoppers from Madeira Island

Empoasca is a large worldwide distributed genus of about 400 species many of which are pests to agricultural plants. Species of Empoasca are bisexual but recently three parthenogenetic morphotypes (A, B and C) of various degrees of polyploidy have been reported from Madeira Island. Females of Empoasca are difficult to identify because they show insufficient morphological diag nostic characters. In this work, we evaluate the utility of wing venation pattern for the identification of the three bisexual and three unisexual taxa of Empoasca present in Madeira. Our main motivation is to test whether the wing venation pattern is a stable char acter and to assess whether it could be suitable to develop an identification key for females of taxa present in Madeira Island. We analysed 107 categorical characters of wing patterns and vein shape in the forewings and hind wings of 677 females. The results showed that wing venation may provide useful characters to identify species of Empoasca despite a considerable amount of in traspecific variation. The variation within each species in wing pattern was analysed and several modifications in vein number such as additional or missing veins and in vein shape as bifurcations or incomplete veins are reported.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Práticas culturais

Na Madeira, a cultura do castanheiro localiza-se maio- ritariamente nas zonas altas da ilha, sendo unicamente destinada à produção de fruto. As características do re- levo desta ilha condicionam o uso de máquinas e alfaias agrícolas, pelo que a actividade agrícola é essencialmente manual. As práticas culturais têm por objectivo a con- dução do souto de modo a obter uma produção regu- lar de frutos que reúnam as condições exigidas pelo mercado. Para atingir esse objectivo, são necessários cuidados em todas as fases da cultura. Neste capítulo, são abordadas as principais práticas culturais inerentes à instalação e à manutenção de um souto destinado à produção de fruto, compatível com o modo de pro- dução biológico. Salientam-se, assim, a importância da escolha das parcelas e a preparação do solo para a plantação, como também da escolha do material vegetal. No que repeita às práticas culturais recomendadas para a condução e a manutenção de um souto, destacam-se a enxertia, a poda e a fertilização. Adicionalmente, é feita uma breve abordagem à compostagem como processo de transformação e aproveitamento dos materiais vegetais excedentes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ranking protected areas in the Azores using standardised sampling of soil epigean arthropods

Copyright © Springer 2005.Nineteen areas in seven of the nine Azorean islands were evaluated for species diversity and rarity based on soil epigean arthropods. Fifteen out of the 19 study areas are managed as Natural Forest Reserves and the remaining four were included due to their importance as indigenous forest cover. Four of the 19 areas are not included in the European Conservation network, NATURA 2000. Two sampling replicates were run per study area, and a total of 191 species were collected; 43 of those species (23%) are endemic to the archipelago and 12 have yet to be described. To produce an unbiased multiple-criteria index (importance value for conservation, IV-C) incorporating diversity and rarity based indices, an iterative partial multiple regression analysis was performed. In addition, an irreplaceability index and the complementarity method (using both optimisation and heuristic methods) were used for priority-reserves analyses. It was concluded that at least one well-managed reserve per island is absolutely necessary to have a good fraction of the endemic arthropods preserved. We found that for presence/absence data the suboptimal complementarity algorithm provides solutions as good as the optimal algorithm. For abundance data, optimal solutions indicate that most reserves are needed if we want that at least 50% of endemic arthropod populations are represented in a minimum set of reserves. Consistently, two of the four areas not included in the NATURA 2000 framework were considered of high priority, indicating that vascular plants and bird species used to determine NATURA 2000 sites are not good surrogates of arthropod diversity in the Azores. The most irreplaceable reserves are those located in older islands, which indicates that geological history plays an important role in explaining faunal diversity of arthropods in the Azores. Based both on the uniqueness of species composition and high species richness, conservation efforts should be focused on the unmanaged Pico Alto region in the archipelago’s oldest island, Santa Maria

Pragas-chave, fitófagos secundários e auxiliares

Os soutos da Madeira alojam uma grande biodiversidade de artrópodes. Neste capítulo, são enumerados aqueles que, associados ao castanheiro, se podem considerar pragas-chave, os fitófagos secundários e aqueles com potencialidade para serem inimigos naturais das espécies fitófagas. As pragas-chave incluem a vespa-das-galhas- -do-castanheiro, e o bichado-da-castanha (ver Capítulo 6). Nos segundos, estão incluídos afídeos, cochonilhas, cigarrinhas, tripes, gorgulhos, carunchos, traças e borboletas, que, dependendo das espécies, podem atacar quase todos os órgãos do castanheiro. No grupo dos inimigos naturais, foram encontrados predadores como joaninhas, tripes, hemerobídeos e percevejos, assim como parasitóides, estes últimos, representados por espécies de moscas e vespas. Tecem-se, ainda, considerações sobre perspectivas futuras para a cultura, do ponto de vista fitossanitário.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ranking protected areas in the Azores using standardised sampling of soil epigean arthropods

Copyright © Springer 2005.Nineteen areas in seven of the nine Azorean islands were evaluated for species diversity and rarity based on soil epigean arthropods. Fifteen out of the 19 study areas are managed as Natural Forest Reserves and the remaining four were included due to their importance as indigenous forest cover. Four of the 19 areas are not included in the European Conservation network, NATURA 2000. Two sampling replicates were run per study area, and a total of 191 species were collected; 43 of those species (23%) are endemic to the archipelago and 12 have yet to be described. To produce an unbiased multiple-criteria index (importance value for conservation, IV-C) incorporating diversity and rarity based indices, an iterative partial multiple regression analysis was performed. In addition, an irreplaceability index and the complementarity method (using both optimisation and heuristic methods) were used for priority-reserves analyses. It was concluded that at least one well-managed reserve per island is absolutely necessary to have a good fraction of the endemic arthropods preserved. We found that for presence/absence data the suboptimal complementarity algorithm provides solutions as good as the optimal algorithm. For abundance data, optimal solutions indicate that most reserves are needed if we want that at least 50% of endemic arthropod populations are represented in a minimum set of reserves. Consistently, two of the four areas not included in the NATURA 2000 framework were considered of high priority, indicating that vascular plants and bird species used to determine NATURA 2000 sites are not good surrogates of arthropod diversity in the Azores. The most irreplaceable reserves are those located in older islands, which indicates that geological history plays an important role in explaining faunal diversity of arthropods in the Azores. Based both on the uniqueness of species composition and high species richness, conservation efforts should be focused on the unmanaged Pico Alto region in the archipelago’s oldest island, Santa Maria