Conservation of Beneficial Insects for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Insects are the most diverse group of organisms and are 3/4th of all described forms of life. Potentially they are highly indicative of environmental change through close adaptation to their environment. Migratory insect species are at the verge of extinction owing to increasing trend in global warming. Insect fauna also represent the majority of links in the community food chain and they likely have the largest biomass of the terrestrial animals. While the positive values of the insect fauna is remarkably more than that of their negative values. They act as pollinators and bio-control agents in the agro-ecosystem and have batter impact for the development of sustainable agriculture. Thus, knowledge about them is fundamental to study the environment. One to three million insects species are identified worldwide while 2,000 from Pakistan. Out of which more than 954 species from 10 orders are identified/explored by the "Insect Biodiversity and Biosystematics Lab", Department of Agri-Entomology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Of the described species in the order Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets, 279), Odonata (Dragonflies, 130), Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies, 82), Diptera (Syrphids, Fruitflies, Clypterate species 187), Homoptera (Aphids, Whiteflies, 65), Thysanoptera (Thrips, 52), Neuroptera (Antlion, Chrysopids, 42), Dictyoptera (Mantids, 32), Hemiptera (Reduviid & Anthocorid Bugs, 11) and Hymenoptera (Braconids, 17). The abundance of bee forage plants throughout the year determines the growth of honey bee colonies and hence the productivity of bee farming. Pakistan is endowed with more than700 plant species. Out of which entomophilous crops cover 7.3 million hectares of land and forest more than 10 million hectares which can support 0.4-0.5 million honey bee colonies. Despite fairly abundant floral sources and quite suitable climatic conditions for keeping bees in the country, honey production (1000 tonnes) from 3,00,000 colonies is much below to its exploitable potential. All of this work has been completed by students M.Sc/Ph.D theses research and many students are working on different groups of insect fauna and their biodiversity. Eleven species of scrabid beetles (Coleoptera) have been identified recently on molecular level by DNA characterization. Many other identified species specimens, are placed in the departmental insectarium, which are not mentioned in this report.