Analysis of leaf herbivory in Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi in urban public spaces

Abstract

The density and diversity of plants in urban areas can interfere with herbivory, the associative relationship between species of arthropods and plants. The objective of this study was to identify the herbivory rates of Schinus terenbithifolius Raddi and categorize them according to the index by Dirzo and Dominguez in order to subsequently determine the herbivory index (HI) of this species that made up the arborization of public spaces located in Arapiraca-Alagoas: Dom Constantino Luers Green Area, José Bernardino dos Santos Square and Ceci Cunha Municipal Park. 400 leaflets of S. terenbithifolius were randomly collected, dried and subsequently photographed for image analysis in the ImageJ program. Thus, the leaf area of the leaflets and the area with signs of herbivory were calculated to determine the index of Dirzo and Dominguez and, consequently, the HI of the studied species. In general, S. terenbithifolius showed a significant difference in the herbivory rate (p = 3.663E-30) and its HI was 0.67, which reflects a low rate of herbivory, although it was significantly different across the spaces public. It is suggested that new studies be developed with S. terebinthifolius to test whether there are differences between the HI of this species in different phytophysiognomies.