Communities of herpetobional invertebrate agroecosystems at different levels of intensification

Abstract

Abstract Human economic activity, including agriculture, leads to an inevitable decrease in the biodiversity of natural fauna and flora, both in the cultivated areas and in the surrounding natural ecosystems. The degree of these violations depends on a number of factors, including the agrotechnical measures used and the level of chemicalization. The species composition has been researched and the characteristics of the ecological structure of herpetobiont invertebrates in areas with crops of grain crops differing in the level of chemicalization and adjacent virgin areas with natural vegetation are given. It was revealed that the most numerous orders in areas with extensive and intensive cultivation technologies are: Coleoptera (Carabidae), Opiliones (Phalangiidae) and Hymenoptera (Formicidae). It has been established that geographically adjacent agrocenoses, which differ in terms of the level of anthropogenic impact, and their border areas, are similar in their species composition. At the same time, an increase in the level of intensification of the cultivated areas leads to a significant restructuring of the structure of communities of terrestrial invertebrates. The dynamic density of most species in areas with intensive processing technology was lower than in fields with a low background of chemicalization. Also, in areas with intensive technology, a decrease in species richness and a decrease in the relative number of dominant groups were noted. Low values of the diversity index in areas with extensive cultivation technology compared to not cultivated, border areas indicate an uneven distribution of invertebrate groups in these areas.