Landscape diversity influences the insects’ abundance and diversity in rice field

The changes in land use and shift of farming system in an area have induced adverse environment impacts and hampers normal crop production throughout the year. Consequently, these impacts directly or indirectly change the food, sheltersand other resources for arthropods both in crop season and off season. Insects exploiting agroecosystems and their associated natural or semi-natural habitats need to be able to find the resources provided by the different cover types in ephemeral and disturbed environments. The spatial scale that best predicts the natural enemy density and population dynamics may depend on the specialisation, dispersal capability, and trophic level of a particular natural enemy. In this study, we quantify the heterogeneity of total landscapes composition of three geographic locations in Bangladesh based on high-resolution satellite imagery using six independent metrics of landscape composition and configuration. We examine the combined effects of landscape heterogeneity and trophic interactions on arthropod communities, particularly the natural enemies, and identify the spatial scales at which these effects are most pronounced. Results showed that Chattogram has abundant very highly diversified area (mixed nature) followed by Satkhira. However, Patuakhali has no very highly diversified areas. Higher arthropod species diversity was found in Chattogram than Satkhira and Patuakhali irrespective crop growth stages. This can be explained that higher arthropod diversity was observed in Chattogram due to its very high diversity index. Thus, higher habitat heterogeneity of Chattogram induces the higher number of arthropods in crop field.