Insects Encountered in Achiote, Panamá and Their Ecosystem Services And

Insects Encountered in Achiote, Panamá and their Ecosystem Services and

Disservices

Presented by Jessee Tinslay

Host organization:

Centro de Estudios and Accion Social Panameño (CEASPA)

La Loma, Pueblo Nuevo, Calle Segunda, Duplex 25-B, Panamá 0819-10043 Phone: (507) 226-6602, Fax:(507) 226-5320 http://www.ceaspa.org.pa

Number of equivalent full days spent on the project in Panama City = 10 Number of equivalent full days spent in the field in Achiote = 13

Panama Field Study Semester 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/ AGRADECIMIENTOS 3

ABSTRACT 4

INTRODUCTION 4

METHODS 9

RESULTS 13

CONCLUSION 14

REFERENCES #

APPENDICES #

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to my host institution, especially Daniel Holness and Mariló Castro who have given me the opportunity to explore my curiosity towards insects and have provided great support. I would also like to thank Alannah Klein and Irving Arcia, who accompanied and helped me during some sample collecting of insects. A special thank you goes to Professor Alfredo Lanuza, who has been incredibly helpful in identifying insects with me during the entirety of my internship and provided extraordinary insight. The project without him would have been impossible.

Agradecimientos

Quería dar mi gratitud más sincera al Centro de Estudios y Acción Social Panameño, especialmente Daniel Holness y Mariló Castro, quienes me dieron la oportunidad de explorar mi curiosidad de los insectos y proveyeron muchísimo soporte para el proyecto. También quería agradecerles a Alannah Klein e Irving Arcia que me acompañaron y ayudaron durante unos muestreos de insectos. Doy un agradecimiento especial al Profesor Alfredo Lanuza que ha sido una ayuda excelente para identificar insectos conmigo durante toda mi pasantía. El proyecto sin

él no hubiera sido posible.

Abstract

The purpose of my study was to establish an inventory and a guide of insects found in

Achiote, Panamá, along with their ecosystem services and disservices. To do this, I both counted and took pictures of insects on both transect walks and on plants of agricultural or cultural interest. In total, I encountered 637 insects distributed in 8 different orders, 38 families, 59 genera and 85 morphospecies from which 34 were identified to species level. I recorded my observations in an extensive table with each insect’s identification and description, then designed an annexe for this table with each morphospecies’ picture, and finally produced guides of the species and genera I encountered more than once along with their ecosystem services or disservices.

Introduction

Project context

Achiote is a small town with approximately 700 inhabitants, is home to the Centro de

Capacitación Comunitaria y de Visitantes El Tucán. This center is part of the larger non-profit organization CEASPA (Centro de Estudios y Accion Social Panameño), whose goal is to provide environmental education to children and tourists.

The Centro El Tucán is a destination of interest for entomological studies and collection due to its proximity and association to the San Lorenzo National Park (Weaver, Bauer, &

Jiménez, 2003). Professor Alfredo Lanuza, from the University of Panama, has been conducting some of these collections in the past few years and is currently working on specimen collections of the area. Furthermore, McGill University students produced an inventory of butterflies (order:

Lepidoptera) in 2005 for the center, with objective to educate tourists and locals alike about the butterfly species of Achiote (Dalphond, Garrish, & Neary, 2005).

While there is a lot of entomological work done in the area, the Centro El Tucán only possessed the butterfly inventory of Achiote produced by McGill students. Accessible guides and an inventory of different insect orders encountered in Achiote were needed for the center.

Insects’ ecosystem services and disservices

Due to their high diversity and abundance, insects are the main deliverers of various ecosystem services and disservices. For example, insects have 289,166 pollinating taxa in contrast to vertebrates with 1,221 taxa (Daily, 1997). They can also pose serious health threats to humans since some insects, such as flies and mosquitoes (order: Diptera) are vectors of human plagues, such as malaria, typhus, bubonic plague and yellow fever (Schowalter, 2013).

Furthermore, insects destroy 25-50 percent of crops, making them the most important food and fiber competitors for humans (Daily, 1997). This fact was proven to be true in Achiote, where I observed and learned from the locals that Utetheisa ornatrix (figure 1)(family: Erebidae, order:

Lepidoptera) as well as Heliothis species (family: Noctuidae, order: Lepidoptera) were the main pests of guandú (Cajanus cajan). Most complaints from thirteen local farmers was that their plantain plantations and guandú plants were threatened by caterpillars (order: Lepidoptera)

(personal communication;(Arcia & Klein, 2017)

Figure 1. Utetheisa ornatrix, a common pest of guandú (Cajanus cajan) in Achiote, Panamá.

Aside from lepidopterans, other insect orders can also pose threats to crops when they are abundant; grasshoppers (order: Orthoptera)(Riley, Packard, & Thomas, 1880; Schowalter, 2013;

Smith, 1954), leaf-cutter ants (order: hymenoptera)(Ribeiro & Fouad, 2016), weevils and chrysomelids (order: Coleoptera)(Jolivet, Cox, & Petitpierre, 1993; Schowalter, 2013), leaf- footed bugs (family:coreidae), mealybugs (Figure 2)(family:pseudococcidae), scale insects

(family:coccidae) and membracids (order:hemiptera)(Ben-Dov & Hodgson, 1997; Danne,

Llewellyn, Huwer, & Furlong, 2014; Peña, 2013; Yothers & Allen, 1941). All these insects were encountered in Achiote.

Figure 2. Many mealybugs (family: Pseudococcidae) were found on guandú (Cajanus cajan).

Other disservices which impact humans are the painful, and sometimes venomous, bites and stings of ants, bees and wasps (Schmidt, 1982)(order: Hymenoptera) in addition to catterpillars (Diaz, 2005). Other orders, such as hemipterans, dipetrans and coleopterans can also produce venomous bites (Schowalter, 2013).

Albeit many insect orders may be a nuisance to humans, they also provide crucial ecosystem services. Aside from pollination, insects have medical, industrial and nutritional uses to humans (Clausen, 1954; Comstock, 1911; Schowalter, 2013), although during my study I did not witness such type of insect use in Achiote. Insects also provide regulating services, such as being biocontrol agents ("The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB),"). Dragonfliy and damselfly (order: Odonata) nymphs and adults are examples of biocontrol agents of mosquitoes (Mandal, Ghosh, Bhattacharjee, & Chandra, 2008; Pfitzner, Beck, Weitzel, &

Becker, 2015). Another regulating service provided by dung beetles (family: Scarabaeidae, order: Coleoptera) and flesh-flies (family: Sarcophagidae, order: Diptera) is waste management.

Indeed, these insects help decompose dead organic matter. Additionally, Lepidopterans, such as skippers (family: Hesperiidae) and nymphal stages of odonates are also indicators of ecosystem health (Erhardt, 1985; "New World Encyclopedia," ; Valente-Neto, de Oliveira Roque,

Rodrigues, Juen, & Swan, 2016).

Cultural services, especially aesthetic appreciation and tourism, are also an important part of what insects offer to humans ("The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)," ;

Schowalter, 2013). In Achiote, butterflies are diverse and colorful. Local children appreciate butterflies and easily recognize them, as I learnt during school presentations I did in a local elementary school. As mentioned previously, McGill students provided inventories of butterflies for tourism and education, along with establishing plans to develop butterfly gardens in the community because of its potential for attracting tourism (Dalphond et al., 2005). While butterflies a are the most popular insect, dragonflies and colorful beetles are also sought out by insect amateurs for their beautiful aesthetic (figure 3)(Schowalter, 2013).

Figure 3. Butterflies offer important cultural services due to their striking beauty, such as Anartia fatima.

Research goals

To provide a useful insect guide and insect inventory, along with descriptions of the ecosystems services and disservices of insects encountered in Achiote, I explored (1) what were the most abundant genera and species I sampled in Achiote and (2) what were their ecosystem services and disservices. I decided to study abundance since the insects in the guide must contain species or genera that locals and tourists would be more likely to encounter. I did not produce a guide for insect families since morphology within a family can greatly vary; a single picture of an insect may not help in identifying a member of the same family. I focused my second research question on ecosystem services and disservices since I wanted to include information about each species or genera’s importance to humans to make the guide more educational.

Methods

The following methodologies abode by the Code of Ethics of McGill University.

Methods have been developed based on sampling methods of previous studies on insects. Since I did not have a permit to kill insects, I only practiced non-lethal sampling methods. After consulting literature and entomologists, transect walks were performed as well as counting the number of insects encountered on randomly selected guandú (c. cajans) and achiote (Bixa

Orellana) plants in the community (Canner; Collier, Mackay, Benkendorff, Austin, & Carthew,

2006; Elliot, Michels, Kieckhefer, & French, 1997; Mart et al., 2006; Michels, Elliott, Romero,

& French, 1997) (personal communication; Alfredo Lanuza, Donald Windsor, Yves Basset &

David Roubik).

Pollard walks on Higuerón trail

Pollard walks were 5 meters wide and were performed three times on the Centro El

Tucán’s Higuerón trail, which is 300m in length. I walked the trail at a slow pace and took a picture of any new species I would see no more than 5 meters ahead(Canner; Collier et al.,

2006), sometimes using a 25cm diameter sweep net to capture any fast flying insect. I would count every individual I see, making sure to place it within the right morphospecies category.

The assumption that I would be able to recognize a previously counted insect based on its morphological differences was made (Canner; Pollard & Yates, 1997).

Transect walks on local plantain farms

Transect walks on farms were 20m in length and performed on four different farms with the permission of the owner. In the same fashion as the walks on the center’s trail, I walked at a slow pace, like the one I had on the trail, took pictures of any new morphospecies I saw and used a sweep net if I needed a closer look of the individual. I then classified each insect within a

9 morphospecies category. Again, the assumption that I would be able to recognize a previously counted insect based on its morphological differences was made (Canner; Pollard & Yates,

1997). The walks on farms were performed only once, since accessibility, availability of farm owners and time constraint did not permit second sampling of all farms.

The insect count on plants

Two plants were selected in this case; guandú (C. cajans) and achiote (B. Orellana) since they were in production at the time and had an accessible height for individual insect count. The plants were located on various locals’ properties, usually near their houses. For each plant, I counted the number of insects and classified them in morphospecies categories in the same way I did for the two previous sampling methods and spent 15 minutes on every plant. If needed, I used a sweep net to capture insects which required closer observation or picture taking. This methodology was modified from sampling methods used by Mart et al. 2006.

Identifiying the sampled insects

Identifying insects was the most time consuming and challenging part of the methodology, since some insects require dissection or DNA analysis to fully characterize their species. Furthermore, some insects I observed were too quick to capture a good picture, if any could be taken. Luckily, this rarely happened.

With the extensive help of entomologist Alfredo Lanuza and the database he made of insects found in Achiote (Lanuza-Garay, 2015), along with the Smithsonian Tropical Research

Institute’s website containing a large database of insect species encountered in Panamá, we identified all insects to family, genus or species level (except for one order, Isoptera, which was impossible to identify to family).

Determining ecosystem services and disservices of insects

To determine the ecosystem services and disservices of each insect, I reviewed literature

(see introduction) and consulted professor Lanuza. Since there is limited knowledge on ecosystem services of every species I encountered, I generalized my search to services and disservices provided by families and/or orders I encountered during sampling, since members within families, for example apidae (Daily, 1997) and sometimes orders, for example odonates

(Mandal et al., 2008), share similar behaviours. The ecosystem services and/or disservices for each insect was then included in the insect guide.

The insect guide

The insect guide (see annexe 1) was made based of an initial model provided by

Professor Alfredo Lanuza from University of Panamá. I modified it so it could accommodate a description of the ecosystem service and/or disservice of the species or genera at hand. To determine which species and genera would appear in the guide, I determined abundance of each species. Since professor Lanuza and I were only able to identify 34 of the 85 morphospecies, I inserted in the guide the species I saw more than once during sampling, all methods combined. In total, 22 species were placed in the guide. I decided to include genera in my guide because members of the same genus usually share some morphological similarities, therefore the pictures would help in recognizing individuals of the same genus. I included in the guide the genera I encountered more than once, excluding the ones which were identified to species level. In total,

12 genera were placed in the guide.

Under each picture of insect, I included the name of the species or the genera, its family, its size, a description of its ecosystem services and/or disservices and photo credits since 5 pictures were not taken by me. The description of ecosystem services and disservices was free of any scientific jargon, since the guide is meant for public use.

Each page of the guide was printed and laminated to make it waterproof, so the Centro El

Tucán’s visitors could use it while being outdoors.

The inventory

In addition to the guides, I made an inventory with annexe of all the morphospecies encountered in Achiote (see annexe 2). The table includes the order, suborder, family, genus and species along with a short description of the insect and a number to find its picture in the annexe.

The inventory also shows how specific professor Lanuza and I identified morphospecies. The annexe only contains the most specific taxon we could attribute to the morphospecies.

The inventory can also be used to identify insects encountered in Achiote, but unlike the guide, it contains scientific jargon and is not waterproof.

The poster

The poster provided by professor Lanuza was professionally designed and already contained multiple species he had selected (see annexe 3). However, he required my help to add better quality pictures. Since the poster is still a work in progress, no final poster has been submitted yet to CEASPA. My contribution to the poster, however, was completed.

Presenting at the local elementary school

On march 14th, 2017, I presented four different insects to children of kinder and pre- kinder level. On a poster, I drew a stingless bee (Trigona sp., family: Apidae, order:

Hymenoptera), commonly know as zagaño in the region, a dragonfly, a butterfly and a leaf- cutting ant (Atta sp.). Under each insect, a drawing of a service or disservice they provide to humans was made. The stingless bee, for example, visits the plantain flower, pollinates it and helps produce a plantain. I then drew and cut out smaller versions of the insects so the children

12 could stick the insect on its corresponding ecosystem service, for example stick the stingless bee on the plantain flower (see figure 4).

Figure 4. The poster I presented to the children of the local elementary school. The small insect cut-outs are not shown.

Results

Result from sampling

The results are representative of all sampling methods combined. A total od 637 insects were counted between the months of February and April 2017. These insects were distributed between 8 order, 35 families, 59 genera and 85 morphospecies, 34 of which were identified to species level. Some insects were only identified down to family or genus level due the complexity of their identification. The 85 morphospecies, along with their morphological description and each taxon they belong to, can be found in Table 1 of the annexe.

The most abundant species was Brachyplatys subaenus representing 46.31% of the 393 individuals identified species level (see graph 1 of annexe). Other abundant species were

Enchenopa biplaga (0.083%), Hermeuptychia hermes (0.083%) and Anartia fatima (0.068%). In

13 the dataset, there were 5 species which were doubletons (0.025%), and 14 species that were singletons (0.036%). All species, except singletons, were included in the insect guide.

The most abundant genus, was also Brachyplatys, representing 35.97% of the 506 individuals identified to genus level (see graph 2 of annexe). Other abundant genera were

Trigona (0.085%), Enchenopa (0.065%) and Hermeuptychia (0.065%). In the dataset, there were

9 genera that were doubletons (0.037%) and 23 genera that were singletons (0.045%). All genera, except the singletons and the genera which were identified to species levels and already present in the guide, were included in the insect guide. The genus Atta, i.e. leaf-cutting ants, was also abundant and included in the guide, although it was not included in the graph since members of this genus form enormous colonies and counting each individual I encountered during sampling would have been impossible.

Ecosystem services and disservices

In total, 6 services and 3 disservices were associated to the insects inserted in the guide

(refer to annexe 1). The services were: pollination, biocontrol, waste management, ecosystem health indicators, aesthetic appreciation, and tourism (TEEB, (Daily, 1997; Schowalter, 2013).

The disservices were: biting and/or stinging, crop destruction, and disease vectors (Schowalter,

2013). Although there exist other services and disservices provided by insects, for example industrial use, these were not present in Achiote.

Conclusion

Based on my findings, there are 34 species and genera that were encountered more than once during sampling. These species and genera along with their ecosystem services or disservices were included in an insect guide I produced. Furthermore, an inventory of the 85

14 encountered morphospecies was generated, although not all morphospecies were successfully identified down to species level.

Limitations

Many limitations affected my project. First, I did not have a permit to capture and kill insects, which limited my capacity to identify the species that were too fast to take a picture of.

While malaise traps could have been a solution to sampling insects without killing them, the transport from Panama City to Achiote would have damaged the fine mesh or broken the poles of the trap. Secondly, since my entomology skills are limited, I may have misidentified some insects or categorized insect in the wrong taxon. Thirdly, replicating sampling on locals’ farms was impossible, due to time constraints and availability of farmers to accompany me to their plantation. Another limiting factor was climate, since insects are far less active when it rains or when it is windy, therefore impacting how many I would count. The use of chemicals on farms could also possibly impact the abundance and richness of the insects I encountered there.

Local implications

My work has provided to CEASPA a first inventory of various insects encountered in the community of Achiote. This inventory may help any visitor or local to identify insects they encounter on their farms, on guandú or achiote plants near their houses or on the Centro El

Tucán’s Higuerón trail. This inventory will also help professor Alfredo Lanuza, who regularly comes to the community to collect insects with his students and is currently working on an insect collection of specimens from Achiote.

Additionally, the waterproof insect guide will provide a fun and useful tool for visitors and locals to recognize insects they see and understand the service or disservice they provide to humans. These guides follow a model provided by professor Lanuza who also started multiple

15 lepidopteran and arthropod guides but did not print them yet. Therefore, the guide can be extended by other academics working on insects in Achiote.

Academic implications

Although preliminary, my work provides a database for entomologists working in

Achiote or San Lorenzo National Park. Since the Centro El Tucán receives many researchers, some of which are entomologists, a hard copy of my work will be available for them to use during their research. Having an insect inventory and guide will aid in insect identification for these researchers, which is usually an extensive and complex task.

Graph 1. Abundance of species sampled.

Graph 2. Abundance of genera sampled.

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