Effect of organic management on the diversity and function of arthropods associated with cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) in Colombia
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is a high-value commercial crop from which the popular chocolate is derived. Despite its importance, little is known about the associated arthropods and the factors affecting their diversity and functional dynamics. On the other hand, organic farming systems are considered a solution for biodiversity conservation. Consequently, this study aims to compare the abundance and diversity of arthropods, along with their functional roles, evaluating differences between conventional and organic systems. The study was conducted in Nilo, Cundinamarca, Colombia, comparing six conventional and organic cacao plots. Pitfall, interception, Malaise, and floral glue traps were used to recollect arthropods each day over three days in three sampling periods, each attempting to capture a phenological phase of cacao. A total of 273 arthropod families and 15,310 individuals were identified and categorized based on their ecological roles. The results indicate a significant increase in arthropod abundance in organic plots. Additionally, at the functional role level, an effect was found on the abundance of each plot. However, according to the inverse Simpson index, no differences in diversity were found between conventional and organic systems. A negative effect of temperature and precipitation on arthropod abundance was observed across several functional roles. These findings highlight the dynamics of the entomofauna in cacao and how organic management can benefit biodiversity. However, further research is needed to assess its impact on production and societal benefits.
Abbott, P. C., Benjamin, T. J., Burniske, G. R., Croft, M. M., Fenton, M., Kelly, C. R., Lundy, M., Rodríguez Camayo, F., & Wilcox, M. D. (2017). An analysis of the supply chain of cacao in Colombia. United States Agency for International Development.
Adjaloo, M. K., Oduro, W., & Mochiah, M. B. (2012). Spatial distribution of insect assemblage in cocoa farms in relation to natural forest. Journal of Applied Biosciences, 54, 3870-3879.
Akesse-Ransford, G., Owusu, E. O., Kyerematen, R., & Adu-Acheampong, S. (2020). Arthropod diversity of cocoa farms under two management systems in the Eastern and Central regions of Ghana. Agroforestry Systems, 95(5), 791-803. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-020-00568-5
Amado Sierra, J. D. (2021). Propuesta para el mejoramiento de los procesos logísticos en el cultivo e industrialización del cacao de la asociación cacaotera “PROASOAGRO” en el municipio de Nilo, Cundinamarca. [Tesis doctoral, Universidad Piloto de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia]. https://repository.unipiloto.edu.co/handle/20.500.12277/10451
Aneja, M., Gianfagna, T., & Ng, E. (1999). The roles of abscisic acid and ethylene in the abscission and senescence of cocoa flowers. Plant Growth Regulation, 27(3), 149-155. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006153502897
Asitoakor, B. K., Asare, R., Ræbild, A., Ravn, H. P., Eziah, V. Y., Owusu, K., ... & Vaast, P. (2022). Influences of climate variability on cocoa health and productivity in agroforestry systems in Ghana. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 327, 109199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2022.109199
Bai, S. H., Gallart, M., Singh, K., Hannet, G., Komolong, B., Yinil, D., Field, D. J., Muqaddas, B., & Wallace, H. M. (2022). Leaf litter species affects decomposition rate and nutrient release in a cocoa plantation. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 324, 107705. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107705
Beirne, B. P. (1970). Effects of precipitation on crop insects. The Canadian Entomologist, 102 (11), 1360-1373. https://doi.org/10.4039/Ent1021360-11
Bernal Zuluaga, J. T. (2021). Evaluación de la diversidad de géneros de escolitinos (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) asociados al agrosistema de cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) en Victoria-Caldas. [Tesis doctoral, Universidad Piloto de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia]. https://repositorio.ucaldas.edu.co/handle/ucaldas/17190
Blasius, B., Rudolf, L., Weithoff, G., Gaedke, U. & Fussmann G. (2020). Long-term cyclic persistence in an experimental predator–prey system. Nature, 577, 226-230. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1857-0
Carpio, M. J., Sánchez-Martín, M. J., Rodríguez-Cruz, M. S., & Marín-Benito, J. M. (2021). Effect of organic residues on pesticide behavior in soils: a review of laboratory research. Environments, 8(4), 32. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments8040032
Chumacero de Schawe, C., Kessler, M., Hensen, I., & Tscharntke, T. (2018). Abundance and diversity of flower visitors on wild and cultivated cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) in Bolivia. Agroforestry Systems, 92(1), 117-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10457-016-0019-8
Contreras, D. O. (2013). Medición de la competitividad de los productores de cacao en una región de Santander– Colombia. Revista Lebret, 5, 243-267. https://dialnet.unirioja. es/descarga/articulo/5983196.pdf
Dankyi, E., Gordon, C., Carboo, D., & Fomsgaard, I. S. (2014). Quantification of neonicotinoid insecticide residues in soils from cocoa plantations using a QuEChERS extraction procedure and LC-MS/MS. Science of the Total Environment, 499, 276-283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.08.051
Dewi, V., Nurariaty, A., & Tuwo, M. (2020). Arthropoda diversity in organic cocoa farming in Bantaeng District. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 486(1), 012164. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/486/1/012164
dos Santos, L. A. O., Naranjo-Guevara, N., & Fernandes, O. A. (2017). Diversity and abundance of edaphic arthropods associated with conventional and organic sugarcane crops in Brazil. Florida Entomologist, 100(1), 134-144. https://doi.org/10.1653/024.100.0119
Forbes, S. J., & Northfield, T. D. (2017). Increased pollinator habitat enhances cacao fruit set and predator conservation. Ecological Applications, 27(3), 887-899. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1491
Forrest, J. R., & Chisholm, S. P. (2017). Direct benefits and indirect costs of warm temperatures for high- elevation populations of a solitary bee. Ecology, 98(2), 359-369. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1655
Frimpong, E., Gordon, I., Kwapong, P., & Gemmill-Herren, B. (2009). Dynamics of cocoa pollination: tools and applications for surveying and monitoring cocoa pollinators. International Journal of Tropical Insect Science, 29(2), 62-69. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742758409990117
Garay-Crisanto, D. A., Sotomayor-Chavez, A., Alarcón-Iman, G., Hermoza, G., & Iannacone, J. (2022). Toxicity of conventional pesticides on the ecosystem services of terrestrial arthropod fauna in cocoa (Theobroma cacao) cultivation in San Martin, Peru. Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina, 81(4), 8-20. https://doi.org/10.25085/rsea.810402
Getanjaly, V. L. R., Sharma, P., & Kushwaha, R. (2015). Beneficial Insects and their value to agriculture getanjal. Research Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 3(5), 25-30. https://www.isca.me/AGRI_FORESTRY/Archive/v3/i5/5.ISCA-RJAFS-2015-012.pdf
Gonzalez, V. H., Cobos, M. E., Jaramillo, J., & Ospina, R. (2021). Climate change will reduce the potential distribution ranges of Colombia’s most valuable pollinators. Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation, 19(2), 195-206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecon.2021.02.010
González-Orozco, C. E., Galán, A. A. S., Ramos, P. E., & Yockteng, R. (2020). Exploring the diversity and distribution of crop wild relatives of cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) in Colombia. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 67(8), 2071-2085. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-020-00960-1
Harvey, J. A., Tougeron, K., Gols, R., Heinen, R., Abarca, M., Abram, P. K., Basset, Y., Berg, M., Boggs, C., Brodeur, J., Cardoso, P., de Boer, J. G., De Snoo, G. R., Deacon, C., Dell, J. E., Desneux, N., Dillon, M. E., Duffy, G. A., Dyer, L. A., … Chown, S. L. (2023). Scientists’ warning on climate change and insects. Ecological Monographs, 93(1), e1553. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1553
Jones, A. G., Hoover, K., Pearsons, K., Tooker, J. F., & Felton, G. W. (2020). Potential Impacts of Translocation of Neonicotinoid Insecticides to Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum (Malvales: Malvaceae)) Extrafloral Nectar on Parasitoids. Environmental Entomology, 49(1), 159-168. https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvz157
Merle, I., Hipólito, J., & Requier, F. (2022). Towards integrated pest and pollinator management in tropical crops. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 50, 100866. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2021.12.006
Moreno Trujillo, G. M. (2021). Estado del arte: análisis del impacto de la logística verde en los procesos productivos y de exportación del cacao proveniente de los cultivos de paz en Colombia. [Tesis de especialización, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia]. http://hdl. handle. net/10654/40071
Nair, K. P. (2021). Tree crops. Harvesting Cash from the World’s Important Cash Crops, 1st ed. (pp. 153-213). Springer Nature: Cham, Switzerland. https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=tWoOEAAAQBAJ
Oblitas Quintanilla, J. D. (2015). Producción orgánica de cacao (Theobroma cacao) en el valle del río Apurimac, Ene y Mantaro (VRAEM). [Tesis de pregrado, Universidad Nacional Agraria la Molina, Lima, Perú]. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12996/2079
Oksanen, J., Simpson, G., Blanchet, F., Kindt, R., Legendre, P., Minchin, P., O'Hara, R., Solymos, P., Stevens, M., Szoecs, E., Wagner, H., Barbour, M., Bedward, M., Bolker, B., Borcard, D., Carvalho, G., Chirico, M., De Caceres, M., Durand, S., Evangelista, H., FitzJohn, R., Friendly, M., Furneaux, B., Hannigan, G., Hill, M., Lahti, L., McGlinn, D., Ouellette, M., Ribeiro-Cunha, E., Smith, T., Stier, A., Ter-Braak, C., Weedon, J. (2022). 10.32614/CRAN.package.vegan
Pasaru, F., Anshary, A., Saleh, S., Yunus, M., & Nasir, B. (2021). Diversity of arthropods and decreased seed weight for various cocoa plantation systems. Songklanakarin Journal of Science & Technology, 43(2).
Prashar, P., & Shah, S. (2016). Impact of fertilizers and pesticides on soil microflora in agriculture, Sustainable agriculture reviews. En E. Lichtfouse (Ed.), Sustainable Agriculture Reviews book Series (SARV, volume 19, pp. 331-361). Springer, Cham, Suiza.
R Core Team (2023). R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing_. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/.
Rice, R. A., & Greenberg, R. (2000). Cacao cultivation and the conservation of biological diversity. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 29(3), 167-173. https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447-29.3.167
Ríos-Moyano, D. K., Rodríguez-Cruz, F. A., Salazar-Peña, J. A., & Ramírez-Godoy, A. (2023). Factores asociados a la polinización del cultivo de cacao (Theobroma cacao L.). Agronomía Mesoamericana, 34(3). https://doi.org/10.15517/am.2023.52280
Romero Vergel, A. P., Camargo Rodriguez, A. V., Ramirez, O. D., Arenas Velilla, P. A., & Gallego, A. M. (2022). A crop modelling strategy to improve cacao quality and productivity. Plants, 11(2), 157. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11020157
Saaristo, M., Brodin, T., Balshine, S., Bertram, M. G., Brooks, B. W., Ehlman, S. M., McCallum, E. S., Sih, A., Sundin, J., Wong, B. B., et al. (2018). Direct and indirect effects of chemical contaminants on the behaviour, ecology and evolution of wildlife. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 285(1885), 20181297. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.1297
Salazar-Díaz, R., & Torres-Coto, V. (2017). Estudio de la dinámica de polinizadores del cultivo de cacao (Theobroma cacao) en tres sistemas de producción. Revista Tecnología en Marcha, 30(1), 90-100. https://revistas.tec.ac.cr/index.php/tec_marcha/article/view/3088
Saunders, M. E., Peisley, R. K., Rader, R., & Luck, G. W. (2016). Pollinators, pests, and predators: Recognizing ecological trade-offs in agroecosystems. Ambio, 45, 4-14. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s13280-015-0696-y
Sayers, E. W., Beck, J., Bolton, E. E., Bourexis, D., Brister, J. R., Canese, K., Comeau, D. C., Funk, K., Kim, S., Klimke, W., et al. (2021). Database resources of the national center for biotechnology information. Nucleic Acids Research, 49(D1), D10-D17. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaa892
Scialabba, N. (2003). Organic Agriculture: The challenge of sustaining food production while enhancing biodiversity. En Sub-Group Meeting on Wildlife, Biodiversity and Organic Agriculture (pp. 15-16). Ankara, Turquía.
Shi, X., Fu, D., Xiao, H., Hodgson, J. A., Yan, D., & Zou, Y. (2022). Comparison between window traps and pan traps in monitoring flower-visiting insects in agricultural fields. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 112(5), 691-696. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007485322000104
Sial, M. U., Majeed, M. Z., Atiq, A., Farooq, T., Aatif, H. M., Jaleel, W., ... & Ghrmah, H. A. (2022). Differential efficacy of edaphic traps for monitoring arthropods diversity in subtropical regions. Journal of King Saud University-Science, 34(1), 101686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksus.2021.101686
Skendžić, S., Zovko, M., Živković, I. P., Lešić, V., & Lemić, D. (2021). The impact of climate change on agricultural insect pests. Insects, 12(5), 440. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12050440
Sotomayor Chávez, A. C. (2020). Evaluación del riesgo ambiental de la aplicación de cuatro pesticidas sobre el polinizador Forcipomyia spp. (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) del cultivo de cacao (Theobroma cacao L.), en San Martín, Perú. Revista Científica de Tesis Universitarias, 1(1), 1-78. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12805/1483
Srinivasnaik, S., Suganthy, M., Kumar, S. M., & Jegadeeswari, V. (2016). Survey, documentation and identification of entomofauna of cocoa, Theobroma cacao L. in major cocoa growing regions of South India. Journal of Applied and Natural Science, 8(3), 1444-1451. https://doi.org/10.31018/jans.v8i3.980
Sünnemann, M., Siebert, J., Reitz, T., Schädler, M., Yin, R., & Eisenhauer, N. (2021). Combined effects of land-use type and climate change on soil microbial activity and invertebrate decomposer activity. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 318, 107490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107490
Syarief, M., Mudjiono, G., Abadi, A. L., & Himawan, T. (2018). Arthropods diversity and population dynamic of Helopeltis antonii Sign. (Hemiptera: Miridae) on various cocoa agroecosystems management. AGROVITA, Journal of Agricultural Science, 40(2), 350-359. http://doi.org/10.17503/agrivita.v39i2.1038
Thukral, A. K. (2017). A review on measurement of Alpha diversity in biology. Agricultural Research Journal, 54(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.5958/2395-146X.2017.00001.1
Toledo-Hernández, M., Wanger, T. C., & Tscharntke, T. (2017). Neglected pollinators: Can enhanced pollination services improve cocoa yields? A review. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 247, 137-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.05.021
Toledo-Hernández, M., Tscharntke, T., Tjoa, A., Anshary, A., Cyio, B., & Wanger, T. C. (2021). Landscape and farm-level management for conservation of potential pollinators in Indonesian cocoa agroforests. Biological Conservation, 257, 109106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109106
Toledo-Hernández, M., Tscharntke, T., Tjoa, A., Anshary, A., Cyio, B., & Wanger, T. C. (2020). Hand pollination, not pesticides or fertilizers, increases cocoa yields and farmer income. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 304, 107160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2020.107160
Tuck, S. L., Winqvist, C., Mota, F., Ahnström, J., Turnbull, L. A., & Bengtsson, J. (2014). Land-use intensity and the effects of organic farming on biodiversity: a hierarchical meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Ecology, 51(3), 746-755. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12219
Van Rijn, P. C., van Houten, Y. M., & Sabelis, M. W. (2002). How plants benefit from providing food to predators even when it is also edible to herbivores. Ecology, 83(10), 2664-2679. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2002)083[2664:HPBFPF]2.0.CO;2
Vásquez, V. A., Cruzatty, L. C. G., Olaya, J. C., & Martínez, M. (2020). Insectos polinizadores en sistemas de producción de Theobroma cacao l. en la zona central del litoral ecuatoriano. Ciencia y Tecnología, 13(2), 23-30. https://doi.org/10.18779/cyt.v13i2.389
Villet, M. (2005). Borror and Delong’s Introduction to the Study of Insects, C.A. Triplehorn & N.F. Johnson: book review. African Entomology, 13(2), 393-394.
Winder, J. (1978). The role of non-dipterous insects in the pollination of cocoa in Brazil. Bulletin of Entomo- logical Research, 68(4), 559-574. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007485300009536
Yee, W. L., Phillips, P. A., Rodgers, J. L., Faber, B. A. (2001). Phenology of arthropod pests and associated natural predators on avocado leaves, fruit, and in leaf litter in Southern California. Environmental Entomology, 30(5), 892-898. https://doi.org/10.1603/0046-225X-30.5.892
Yunus, M., Nasir, B., Lasmini, S. A., & Piri, R. L. (2022). Biodiversity and community structure of arthropods in tropical rice fields under organic and conventional ecosystems. Australian Journal of Crop Science, 16(4), 531-535. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.646018078929370
Zegada Herbas, L. J., Lafuente Cartagena, I., Naoki, K., & Armengot, L. (2020). Variación en la composición de visitantes florales de cacao (Theobroma cacao) entre cinco sistemas de producción en Sara Ana, Alto Beni, Bolivia. Ecología en Bolivia, 55(3), 145-159. https://scielo.org.bo/scielo.php?pid=S1605-25282020000300002&script=sci_arttext
Accepted 2025-05-19
Published 2025-09-30
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors retain the copyright on their work and are responsible for the ideas expressed in them. Once a manuscript is approved for publication, authors are asked for a publication license for the term of legal protection, for all territories that allows the use, dissemination and disclosure of the same.