Abundance and diversity of natural enemies of aphids (Hemiptera: Aphidomorpha) on different host trees in forest habitats

Forests are ecosystems with high biological diversity, where various groups of organisms live. In the province of Isparta, during the years 2019-2020, systematic sampling in forest areas yielded data on aphids and their natural enemies. The tree species studied included [Pinus nigra Arnold. subsp. pallasiana (Lamb.) Holmboe., Pinus brutia Ten., Cedrus libani A. Rich., Abies cilicica (Antoine & Kotschy) Carrière (Pinaceae), Juniperus spp. (Cupressaceae), Quercus spp. (Fagaceae), and Robinia pseudoacacia L. (Leguminosae)]. The study identified 34 aphid species and 42 natural enemy species across 14 host tree species. The distribution of these species among orders was as follows: 54% Coleoptera, 15% Neuroptera, 13% Hemiptera, 13% Hymenoptera, 3% Diptera, and 3% Raphidioptera. The most abundant natural enemy species were Oenopia lyncea (Olivier, 1808) (19.0%), Harmonia quadripunctata (Pontoppidan, 1763) (11.3%), and Adalia decempunctata (L., 1758) (9.2%) in 2019 and H. quadripunctata (14.3%), Coccinula quatuordecimguttata (L., 1758) (12.5%), and Hippodamia variegata (Goeze, 1777) and Stethorus gilvifrons (Mulsant, 1850) (8.9%) in 2020. The tree species with the highest number of aphid species were P. nigra (15 species) and C. libani (13 species). In total, 123 interactions were identified among the 34 aphid species and 42 natural enemy species across 14 host tree species, representing tri-trophic levels.