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Research Paper | Zoology | India | Volume 4 Issue 5, May 2015 | Popularity: 6.3 / 10

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Effect of Changing Landscapes on Diversity, Distribution and Relative Abundance of Insect Pollinators on Apple Crop in Northwest Himalayas

V. K. Mattu, Thakur Bhagat

Abstract: Pollinator diversity studies were conducted on apple bloom in terms of diversity, distribution and relative abundance of insect pollinators, in twenty orchards located at different landscapes of Kullu hills of the Northwest Himalayas. Apple orchards were selected in such a manner that, of these, ten were far away from the natural habitat (i. e. forest), whereas, other experimental orchards were located nearer to natural habitat. These studies revealed that apple flowers were visited by 44 species of insects belonging to 6 orders and 18 families of class Insecta. Hymenopterans and dipterans were the most abundant insect pollinators on apple bloom in all the experimental orchards. Relative abundance studies indicated that Indian hive bee, A. cerana was the most abundant insect visitors to this crop followed by European bee, A. mellifera. However, relative abundance of wild bees was comparatively less in orchards away from natural habitat than those nearer to it. Besides hymenopterans and dipterans, other important insect visitors to apple bloom were lepidopterans such as Pieris canidia, Pieris brassicae, coleopterans like Coccinella sp. and hemiptera like Adolenda typicaie. Present studies on diversity, distribution and relative abundance of different pollinators on apple bloom showed that hymenopterans were the most abundant insect pollinators on apple bloom at different landscapes, moreover, it was also observed that diversity and relative abundance of majority of insect pollinators was higher in those orchards which were nearer to natural habitat than those away from natural habitat.

Keywords: Diversity, relative abundance, pollinators, natural habitat

Edition: Volume 4 Issue 5, May 2015

Pages: 1762 - 1767

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