| dc.description | Plant domestication is a process in which plants increase their productive characteristics, such as size or
number of seed according to the human needs. However, these improvements provoke changes on both insect
community and biodiversity. Hence, plants with higher degree of domestication could be losing biodiversity in
relation to their wild parents. Furthermore, studies have indicated that plants with a high level of fertilization
are more susceptible to insect attacks. Currently, murtilla (Ugni molinae) is a native plant that has been
domesticated near to 20 year ago. The objective of this research was evaluated how the fertilization on wild
and cultivated U. molinae plants affects the insect biodiversity. We carried out a survey on wild plants collected
one year ago from seven different locations of the Región de La Araucanía, and they were compared with their
cultivated counterpart. Four groups of plants were established; 1) cultivated fertilized, 2) cultivated no
fertilized, 3) wild fertilized and finally, 4) wild no fertilized. Fertilizer was applied and consisted of 80, 44, and
43g per plant of nitrogen, P2O5, and K2O, respectively. Survey was carried out each two months during one
year. Insects were collected, and Margalef, Shannon and Simpson indexes were analyze for studying the effect
of domestication in each system. Our results indicated that for cultivated plants, Margalef (2.88), Shannon
(2.75) and Simpson (6.4) were higher in fertilized plants than control. Same results were obtained on wild
plants (2.05, 2.12, 3.76). Finally, wild no fertilized plants presented lower biodiversity indexes (1.8, 1.9, 3.5)
than cultivated plants (2.4, 2.3, 5). In conclusion, domestication effects and fertilization could be important
factors for determining the insect biodiversity in murtilla.
Keywords: Ugni molinae, Biodiversity, Margalef, Shannon, Simpson. | |
