Osorio-Quintero, Catherine

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    Entomofauna Asociada a Pleurotus spp. Y Auricularia spp. de los Bosques de la Olimpia, Susúa y Río Abajo, en Puerto Rico
    (2013) Osorio-Quintero, Catherine; Maldonado-Ramírez, Sandra L.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Santos Flores, Carlos; Acosta Martínez, Jaime; Department of Biology; Román Pérez, Rosa I.
    The entomological fauna associated with macrofungi is an important component of forest diversity. The main relationship established between these two types of organisms is the mycophagy. Puerto Rico has a climate suitable for growing edible macrofungi, so it is necessary to know springtails (Collembola) and insects associated with them and their interactions in nature. In this study we investigated the composition, richness and abundance of class Hexapoda (Collembola and Insecta) associated with edible fungi of the genera Pleurotus and Auricularia, in three forests of Puerto Rico: La Olimpia, Susúa and Río Abajo. We collected 4238 springtails and insects associated with Pleurotus spp. and 577 associated with Auricularia spp. Sampling was conducted in the field, using an entomological aspirator on 30 units of sampling effort, including day and night collections in each forest. Within genus, no significant difference in richness nor in the abundance of diurnal and nocturnal entomological fauna was found. The genus Microgastrura, belonging to the family Hipogasturidae (Order Poduromorpha), was the taxonomic group with higher abundance (57%) for the entomological fauna associated with Pleurotus spp. Dawnaria of the family Derbidae (Order Hemiptera), was the most abundant (15%) for Auricularia spp. A total of 95 genera were documented from which 54 were found in Pleurotus spp. and 63 in Auricularia spp. Significant differences were found between the richness and abundance of the entomological fauna recorded between fungal genera. These results can contribute to the development of pest control strategies not only for crops of edible mushrooms, but also for other commercially important crops in Puerto Rico, such as coconut palm, which is affected by mycoplasmas transmitted by the derbid Dawnaria.