Diversity of predatory arthropod communities in tobacco-garlic eco-system

Predatory arthropods, especially spiders, play a vital role in the control of insect pests in agro-ecosystems. Accordingly, two year field study was conducted at the Longyan Substation of Fujian Institute of Tobacco Agricultural Sciences in China to determine the effects of garlic and tobacco intercropping system on spiders and predatory arthropods. A total of 545 and 860 (in 2011 and 2012, respectively) individuals of predatory arthropods representing 14 families and 16 species were collected in the fields. The diversity indices of the predatory arthropod communities were obviously higher in tobacco-garlic intercropping system than in tobacco fields. The species richness and species abundance of the predatory arthropods collected in tobacco-garlic fields were significantly higher than that of the predatory arthropods collected in tobacco fields in both study years. Moreover, the values of these indices were obviously higher for spider abundance in tobacco-garlic fields than in tobacco fields during the middle stages of tobacco growth. Intercropping garlic in tobacco fields can increase the abundance of spiders and predatory arthropods, and this approach may be useful to control pests in tobacco fields. Key words: Tobacco-garlic, intercropping system, spider, predator arthropod, diversity.