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University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2014 Spatial distribution of soil insects in grassland D.AHMED, KARZAN http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2993 Plymouth University All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. Copyright statement This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognize that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author’s prior consent. I SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF SOIL INSECTS IN GRASSLAND by KARZAN SABAH D.AHMED A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfilment for the degree of RESEARCH MASTER School of Biological Sciences In collaboration with Rothamsted Research (North Wyke) September 2013 II Spatial distribution of soil insects in grassland Abstract KARZAN SABAH D.AHMED Recently, there has been interest in the study of soil biodiversity and its functional role in agricultural grassland due to the need to develop management strategies for soil biota to improve ecosystem self-regulation. In the UK, grasslands provide a habitat for several subterranean insect taxa some of which are pests - leatherjackets (larvae of Tipulidae: Diptera) and wireworms (larvae of Elateridae:Coleoptera). To provide an appropriate method of pest management, a systematic sampling of agricultural grassland over different sampling scales is crucial in order to understand their population distribution and distribution patterns. The spatial distribution and distribution patterns of soil insects were investigated in agricultural grassland over three sampling scales (farmlet, field and core). The effect of spatial, biotic and scale variables and their combinations have been assessed. In addition, a new molecular method has been developed to identify grassland leatherjackets using universal DNA primers. Soil core samples were collected from 19 grass fields divided into 3 farmlets in the Farm Platform at Rothamsted Research, North Wyke. The abundance of taxa and presence: absence data were analysed over the three sampling scales using variance/mean ratios, non-metric multidimensional scaling to visualise association between individual taxa, and deviance partitioning to determine the effect of spatial, space and biotic variables on species distribution. The spatial distribution of most taxa varied between sampling scales from randomness at the core scale to aggregation at the field and farm scales, though some taxa were aggregated at III nearly all scales. Using deviance partitioning our results support previous reports and suggest that scale is the most important factor influencing taxa distribution in comparison with biotic and space variables which had a minor impact. This could explain the variation between taxa which might be due to the interactions between specific environmental variables and sampling scale, biotic and other unknown factors and species biology. DNA barcoding of Tipula spp. using universal DNA primers showed that leatherjackets in grassland are dominated by Tipula paludosa with T. oleraca only found in small numbers. There were also some species of T. paludosa with high genetic variability (P>3%) within the species indicating the possibility of other cryptic species close to T. paludosa. IV List of abbreviations Abbreviations name Description ANOSIM Analysis of similarities BLAST Basic local alignment search tool BOLD Barcode of life data base BSA Bovine serum albumin COI Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 DM Dry Matter DNA Dioxy Nucleic Acid dNTPs DeoxyribonucleosideTriphosphate Solutions EPN Entomo Pathogenic Nematodes ESRI Environmental Systems Research Institute EXO Exonuclease FAO Food Agriculture Organization FP Forward primer GIS Geographic information system GPS Global Positioning System Ha-1 Hectare HN Haplotype number ITS internal transcribed spacer MEGA Molecular evolutionary genetics analysis NBN National Biodiversity Network NJ Neighbour joining NMDS Non-metric Multi Dimensional Scaling ODCB OrthoDiChloro Benzene V PCA Principal Component Analysis PCR Polymerase Chain Reaction PTA Partial Triadic Analysis RFLP Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism RNP Relative Net Precision RP Reverse primer SADIE Spatial Analysis by Distance Indices SAP Shrimp Alkaline Phosphatase TIV Tipula Iridescent Virus TNPV Tipula Nuclear Polyhydrosis Virus UK United kingdom USA United States of America μl Microliter VI List of contents Copyright statement ............................................................................................................. I Abstract ................................................................................................................................ III List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................ V List of contents ................................................................................................................... VII List of tables ........................................................................................................................ XI List of figures ..................................................................................................................... XIII Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... XV Dedication ......................................................................................................................... XVII Author's Declaration ....................................................................................................... XVIII Chapter 1: General Introduction and literature review ........................................... 2 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Insect taxa in grassland soils ...................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 Tipulidae (Leatherjackets) ........................................................................................ 4 1.2.1.1 Life cycle .................................................................................................................. 4 1.2.1.2 Pest species ............................................................................................................ 6 1.2.1.3 Dispersal .................................................................................................................. 8 1.2.1.4 Damage to crops .................................................................................................... 9 1.2.2 Elateridae (Wireworms) .......................................................................................... 10 1.2.2.1 Life cycle ................................................................................................................ 10 1.2.2.2 Pest species .......................................................................................................... 10 1.2.2.3 Dispersal ................................................................................................................ 11 1.2.2.4 Damage to crops .................................................................................................. 12 1.2.3 Bibionidae (Bibionids) ............................................................................................. 14 1.2.3.1 Life cycle ................................................................................................................ 14 1.2.3.2 Pest species .......................................................................................................... 15 1.2.3.3 Dispersal ................................................................................................................ 16 1.2.3.4 Damage to crops .................................................................................................. 17 1.2.4 Noctuidae (Cutworms) ............................................................................................ 17 VII 1.2.4.1 Life cycle ................................................................................................................ 17 1.2.4.2 Pest species .......................................................................................................... 18 1.2.4.3 Dispersal ................................................................................................................ 19 1.2.4.4 Damage to crops .................................................................................................. 20 1.2.5 Sciaridae (Sciarid flies) ........................................................................................... 21 1.3 Population ecology of soil insects ............................................................................ 22 1.4 Population dynamics .................................................................................................. 24 1.5 Factors affecting population regulation ................................................................... 27 1.5.1 Abiotic factors