Insect diversity in vegetable crops of Waemital Village, West Seram, Indonesia

Abstract

Insects are found in almost all ecosystems. The more diverse the ecosystem, the more various species of insects will be. This study aims to determine the diversity of insect in vegetable crops. Field research was carried out in a vegetable plantation owned by farmers in Waemital village, Kairatu District, Western Seram Indonesia. Observations were made by survey methods in which insects was caught using swing insect net, pitfall trap and hand picking. Insect caught was preserved in plastic bottles contain 70% alcohol. Insects collected were identified at the Insect Collection Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture Pattimura University. Diversity (H’) and dominance (D) indices were analyzed using formula of Shannon-Wiener and Simpson, respectively. Totally, there were 2894 individuals of insect captured during the study which belong to 6 orders, 10 families and 11 species. Order Hemiptera with four species has the highest number of individuals, which is 2167 individuals or 74.88% of the total individuals collected. Most families was collected at chili field while the least was caught at tomato plantation. Based on diversity index (H’) and dominance index (D), insect community at vegetable fields in Waemital Village, Western Seram has moderate diversity with low dominance.