engleski

Fluctuating asymmetry of shape as a bio-indicator tool to detect levels of disturbance between agricultural productions

Carabid beetles are often used as indicators of habitat change due to their fast response to environmental changes, well-known biology and ecology, as well as requiring easy sampling methods. Agricultural practices in intensive agricultural production often create a modified environment, which generates different degrees of stress in insects. The tendency of a development system to produce morphological modifications as a response to random perturbations is usually called developmental instability or developmental noise. One of the most common techniques applied to analyse the impact of developmental instability on a particular morphological feature is fluctuating asymmetry (FA). This study assessed the impact of two different integrated agro-ecosystems a) perennial (orchard) and b) annual (arable) crops on the carabid Pterostichus melas melas (Creutzer, 1799) morphology, by using fluctuating asymmetry (FA) as biomonitor of developmental stability. Shape variation and FA levels were estimated using geometric morphometrics. The results obtained using geometric morphometric analyses such as regressions (FA scores vs Shape) and partial least squares showed that carabids that inhabited the perennial agro-ecosystem seem to have adapted to the strong anthropogenic influence at the phenotypic level, while the carabids inhabiting annual agro-ecosystems experience more unstable environments and their phenotypes seem to have been change more recently. It was expected that phenotypes of the annual agro-ecosystems would be more variable than the long-established ones. Different agricultural agro-ecosystems generate different disturbance degrees in insect communities, and these effects can be successfully quantified by applying geometric morphometric techniques.

Pterostichus melas melas, fluctuating asymmetry, geometric morphometrics, agro-ecosystem

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