Journal of Bioresource Management Volume 8 Issue 3 Article 2 Quantifing Diversity and Phenology of Cereal Leaf Beetles Oulema Spp. (Chrysomelidae: Criocerinae) in Several Cereal Fields of Semi-Arid Zone, Algeria Chirine Amri Department of Living Beings, Faculty of Exact Sciences and Sciences of Nature and Life, University Larbi Tebessi, 12002 Tebessa, Algeria, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/jbm Part of the Biodiversity Commons, and the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Amri, C. (2021). Quantifing Diversity and Phenology of Cereal Leaf Beetles Oulema Spp. (Chrysomelidae: Criocerinae) in Several Cereal Fields of Semi-Arid Zone, Algeria, Journal of Bioresource Management, 8 (3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.35691/JBM.1202.0190 ISSN: 2309-3854 online (Received: Apr 3, 2021; Accepted: Apr 26, 2021; Published: Aug 2, 2021) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by CORE Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Bioresource Management by an authorized editor of CORE Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Quantifing Diversity and Phenology of Cereal Leaf Beetles Oulema Spp. (Chrysomelidae: Criocerinae) in Several Cereal Fields of Semi-Arid Zone, Algeria Cover Page Footnote The author is grateful to all volunteers who contributed to sampling during study period, and thanks referees who performed the first version of the manuscript. © Copyrights of all the papers published in Journal of Bioresource Management are with its publisher, Center for Bioresource Research (CBR) Islamabad, Pakistan. This permits anyone to copy, redistribute, remix, transmit and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes provided the original work and source is appropriately cited. Journal of Bioresource Management does not grant you any other rights in relation to this website or the material on this website. In other words, all other rights are reserved. For the avoidance of doubt, you must not adapt, edit, change, transform, publish, republish, distribute, redistribute, broadcast, rebroadcast or show or play in public this website or the material on this website (in any form or media) without appropriately and conspicuously citing the original work and source or Journal of Bioresource Management’s prior written permission. This article is available in Journal of Bioresource Management: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/jbm/vol8/ iss3/2 Amri C. (2021). Diversity of Oulema spp. (Chrysomelidae: Criocerinae) in Cereal Fields, Algeria. J Biores Manag., 8(3): 01-13 QUANTIFING DIVERSITY AND PHENOLOGY OF CEREAL LEAF BEETLES OULEMA SPP. (CHRYSOMELIDAE: CRIOCERINAE) IN SEVERAL CEREAL FIELDS OF SEMI-ARID ZONE, ALGERIA CHIRINE AMRI 1* 1Department of Living Beings, Faculty of Exact Sciences and Sciences of Nature and Life, University Larbi Tebessi, 12002 Tebessa, Algeria. *Corresponding author’s email: [email protected] ABSTRACT The present study treated the taxonomic diversity of the cereal leaf beetle (Oulema spp.) community subservient to several cereal fields (barley, durum wheat and oats) in Eastern Algeria. From April to June, which is the appearance period of these insects, the leaf beetle fauna was weekly sampled using two trapping techniques: entomological net and sight hunting method. Spatiotemporal alpha and beta diversity of this community were evaluated by several ecological indices: Shannon index, Simpson index and equitability. The multivariate statistic test (GLM) was used to assess the variation of the different diversity parameters. Catches totaled 1144 individuals belonging to the genus Oulema and four species: Oulema melanopus, Oulema cyanella, Oulema duftscmidi and Oulema gallaeciana. The highest abundance of the leaf beetles was recorded in oats with 569 individuals (49.73%), followed by barley (390 individuals, 34.09%) and durum wheat (185 individuals, 16.17%), whereas the most speciose field was barley (4 species), followed by oats (3 species) and durum wheat (2 species). The most abundant species was O. melanopus with 746 individuals (65.20% of the total). The spectrum of occurrence ranked constant species first, followed by common and very accidental species. GLMs demonstrated that diversity of cereal leaf beetles Oulema spp is highly related to cereal field type. Keywords: Cereal fields, diversity alpha, diversity beta, Eastern Algeria, Oulema spp. INTRODUCTION a variety of them are serious cereal pests like O. gallaeciana (Ulrich et al, 2004) and Often called leaf beetles and O. melanopus, which is the most dangerous with about 19 subfamilies and 37 000 (Vencl and Leschen, 2014). Indeed, the known species, Chrysomelidae is larval and the adult forms of this taxonomic considered as a very diverse family among group prefer living and feeding on leaves. insects that feed on plants (Ekiz et al., Hence, a lot of species attract many 2013). Specifically, according to Bezdĕk researcher’s attention from different and Schmitt (2017), the subfamily specialities for their feature as Criocerinae contains 1500 species devided phytophagous (Booth et al., 1990) and into 22 genera in the world, of which about their aptitude to cause considerable damage 200 are found in the Palaearctic countries. to some crops, especially cereals (Weloso, The larger part of the species lives in 1973). In Algeria, products of cereals have subtropical and tropical regions, and an important position in food system and belongs to five genera: Crioceris, in economy of the country; this Lilioceris, Lema, Oulema, and Neolema characteristic is clearly perceived through (Matsumura et al., 2014). The genus all the phases of the sector (Djermoun, Oulema comprises 800 descriped species, 2009). The great fluctuation of yields and production of cereals are in large 1 Amri C. (2021). Diversity of Oulema spp. (Chrysomelidae: Criocerinae) in Cereal Fields, Algeria. J Biores Manag., 8(3): 01-13 proportion the result of abiotic constraints MATERIALS AND METHODS such as thermal and water stress (Derbal et al., 2015), and biotics such as pests Study Area (Belahcene et al., 2015). The Algerian entomofauna This survey was carried out in restricted to cereal fields is not well two regions located in Eastern Algeria assessed. In fact, few works have been (Figure 1): Tebessa (latitude 35°20’N, conducted in this context, e.g: Madaci longitude 8°6’E, altitude: 960 m) and (1991) in El khroub, Kellil (2010) in Setif, Batna (latitude 35,33°N, longitude 6,10°E, Bakroune et al., (2020) in Biskra, altitude: 1036 m). Three cereal fields were Amokrane et al., (2020) in Oum El selected to be sampled: durum wheat Bouaghi. As far as the genus Oulema is (Triticum durum Desf.) and barley concerned, it remains poorly studied, (Hordeum vulgare L.) in Tebessa, and oats (Avena sativa L.) in Batna. The cereal despite the potential danger that some of 2 its species represent for cereal production. field’s areas are at least 7000 m for each. According to Sahraoui et al. (2001), the Based on meteorological data species O. melanopus is the main cereal of the period 2000-2011, provided by the pest in Algeria. To our knowledge, the meteorological station of Tebessa (latitude notable works dedicated to this genus are 35,48 °N, longitude 8,13 °E, altitude: 813 Rouag et al., (2012) and Kellil et al., m) and the meteorological station of Batna (2018), the first evaluated the infestation (latitude 35,55 °N, longitude 6,18 °E, by Oulema spp. on six varieties of durum altitude: 1052 m), both regions are wheat in arid conditions of Setif, and the characterized by a semi-arid climate (De second studied the population dynamics of Martonne index: ITebessa = 16.30, IBatna = O. melanopus in different durum wheat 14.17). Moreover, Gaussen and Bagnouls varaities of the high plains of Eastern diagram indicates that the dry period lasted Algeria. about six months, from April to September The basic knowledge on in Tebessa, and from May to late October species and their distribution are of in Batna. Annual rainfall averaged 434 paramount importance for the biodiversity mm in Tebessa and 366.06 mm in Batna. study in a given region (Sarthou et al., The annual average of mean temperature 2005), particularly for those living in hard was 16.62 °C with a maximum in July environments like arid and semi-arid areas (27.50 °C) and minimum in January (7.60 (Chenchouni, 2012). Consequently, this °C) in Tebessa, nevertheless, in Batna, the study, which is the first in Algeria to pay annual average of mean temperature was particular attention to the diversity of 15.82 °C, the maximum temperature was cereal leaf beetle community (Oulema recorded in July with 28.79 °C, and the spp), attempted to collect data on this minimum was recorded in January with community in many cereal fields located at 4.70 °C. semi-arid zones. Many research questions could be asked in this context: (i) under Sampling and Identification semi-arid climatic conditions, what would Fieldwork was performed be the distribution pattern and the structure weekly and regularly in the three cereal of cereal leaf beetle Oulema spp. fields (12 outputs per field), from April, communities in different cereal fields? (ii) the date of appearance of the first adult, does the spatiotemporal variation in until late June, the harvest day, during the species richness and abundance exist? year 2011. 2 Amri C. (2021). Diversity of Oulema spp. (Chrysomelidae: Criocerinae) in Cereal Fields, Algeria. J Biores Manag., 8(3): 01-13 Since adult leaf beetles are we gave 50 shots randomly, progressing in generally found on the upper leaves of the direction of the field length. The wheat, two trapping techniques were sampling session took over three hours adopted: (i) trapping by using an from 10:00 to 13:00 AM. In the laboratory, entomological net (35 cm of diameter), (ii) the identification of the collected the sight hunting method, in order to biological material (adults) was performed complemente the first technique.