Current and Future Diversity of Thysanoptera Species in the Cereal Areas of the Lakes Region, Turkey

Abstract

Field surveys were carried out to determine the thrips fauna in cereal production areas of the Lakes Region in Turkey in 2016 and 2017. Thysanoptera specimens were collected with destructive and strike methods in two periods (before and after spike) from each production field during the production season. Thrips specimens were identified based on morphological taxonomic characters. Species distribution maps, species richness, abundance, as well as Shannon–Wiener (H') index, species seasonal dynamic and species sex ratio were calculated to indicate the diversity of Thysanoptera species in the Lakes Region. We also calculated Pearson correlation coefficient to evaluate correlation between Thysanoptera species richness and host plant richness. Species Distribution Modelling, namely MaxEnt algorithm, was used in order to establish the current and future distributional patterns of Thysanoptera species collected in our research area. During the two years of the study, 27,603 specimens of Thysanoptera were collected in production fields of wheat, oat and barley. There were 51 different species from four families. Haplothrips tritici was the most abundant species with 15,284 specimens or 55.371% of all collected. The highest relative abundance within family Thripidae was recorded for Collembolothrips mediterraneus, Chirothrips manicatus, Thrips angusticeps, Thrips herricki and Limothrips cerealium. Considering the altitudinal gradient of the study area, the highest species richness and abundance were found between 950 and 1,050 m.a.s.l. with 40 species and 7,622 specimens recorded. Potential species richness of Thysanoptera revealed an increase in areas that predominantly encompass eastern parts of Burdur province, as well as central north parts of Isparta.