The dataset, described in the Biodiversity Data Journal, covers arthropods sampled in orchard interiors and in adjacent hedgerows between 71 and 197 metres above sea level. Its authors frame the collection as baseline data on terrestrial arthropod communities in biodiversity-friendly production orchard systems, intended to support future research on biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. The project, titled Beneficial arthropods in organic orchards and hedgerows on Terceira Island under the scope of the COMCHA project, was conceived by Paulo A.V. Borges and António B. Domingues, with fieldwork carried out by Domingues and Borges.

Why does a dataset of insects and spiders from a mid-Atlantic island matter to anyone beyond the Azores? The answer lies in the economics and ecology of pest management. Arthropods are a major component of agricultural ecosystems, and many taxa contribute to ecosystem services such as biological control, pollination and organic matter decomposition, while others act as pests or contribute to ecosystem disservices. Among the beneficial taxa, natural enemies, including predators and parasitoids, are particularly important because they can suppress pest populations and thereby support agricultural productivity. Spiders, ground beetles and parasitic wasps play a particularly important role in regulating populations of herbivorous insects and other potential crop pests, providing the ecosystem service known as natural biological control, which can reduce pest outbreaks and decrease reliance on chemical pesticides.

The practical stakes are considerable. Beneficial arthropods allow for a reduction in the number of phytosanitary treatments, in some cases even eliminating them entirely, according to the research cited in the paper. Furthermore, in some cases phytosanitary treatments are ineffective and pest management can only be successfully achieved through biological control, as illustrated by the chestnut gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus, which is controlled by the parasitoid Torymus sinensis. Against this backdrop, the authors argue that nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches should be prioritised in agricultural systems to enhance biodiversity and promote sustainable pest management.

Maintaining populations of natural enemies is widely regarded as an important component of sustainable agriculture and integrated pest management. Numerous studies have reported positive relationships between the richness and abundance of natural enemies and pest suppression, but the strength and direction of these relationships may vary amongst systems and depend on ecological context, species composition and community structure. That variability is precisely why documenting arthropod diversity and community composition remains an important step towards understanding ecological interactions and ecosystem-service provision in agricultural landscapes. It is also why the new Terceira dataset is framed as a starting point rather than a conclusion: it supplies the raw community data against which hypotheses about pest regulation can be tested.

The pressures on farmland biodiversity form another thread of the study’s rationale. Agricultural intensification and landscape simplification have often reduced the diversity and availability of habitats within agroecosystems and often create conditions that are unfavourable for the survival and reproduction of beneficial organisms. Managing the environment to maintain and strengthen populations of these natural enemies is becoming an increasingly important approach in agricultural pest management. In response, increasing attention has been given to the role of ecological infrastructures in supporting biodiversity within agricultural landscapes, and European policies, including the Nature Restoration Regulation (EU 2024/1991) and the Common Agricultural Policy (EU 2021/2115), promote the introduction of high-diversity landscape features in arable land and intensively used grasslands, such as buffer strips, field margins with native flowers, hedgerows, trees, small woodlands, terrace walls, ponds, habitat corridors and stepping stones.

Hedgerows occupy a special place in this policy landscape. The presence of natural vegetation around the production area is crucial to increase beneficial arthropod diversity, and hedgerows and other semi-natural linear habitats may act as ecological reservoirs for many arthropod species, including predators and parasitoids that contribute to biological control. To assess both the presence of these organisms and the success of management strategies, the authors argue, it is essential to obtain robust and reliable datasets. The Terceira collection is designed to allow exactly that kind of assessment, comparing the diversity of beneficial arthropods in hedgerows with the orchard itself, an explicit aim stated in the project’s purpose.

Oceanic islands add a distinctive dimension to the work. Due to their geographical isolation, island ecosystems often harbour distinctive assemblages of endemic, native and introduced species and may be particularly susceptible to biological invasions. Agricultural landscapes on islands frequently consist of relatively small and fragmented habitat patches, making semi-natural elements such as hedgerows potentially important reservoirs of biodiversity and connectors between habitats. These features may provide shelter, refuge, alternative food resources and breeding sites for a wide range of arthropods, including predators and parasitoids involved in biological control. The Azores Archipelago, located in the North Atlantic Ocean, hosts a mixture of endemic, native and introduced arthropod species, making it an appropriate system for investigating arthropod diversity associated with agricultural habitats and their adjacent semi-natural elements.

Agriculture is a major land use across the archipelago and an important component of the regional economy. Approximately 48.82% of the Azorean territory is occupied by agricultural land, with pastures alone accounting for 39.63% of the regional surface. Agricultural landscapes include permanent and semi-natural pastures, orchards and other cultivated habitats, forming a heterogeneous mosaic. Organic farming has also expanded markedly, with the combined area under organic production and conversion increasing from 1,277.57 hectares in 2020 to 4,547.57 hectares in 2022. Because the effects of organic farming on biodiversity vary amongst taxonomic groups and landscape contexts, documenting the diversity and distribution of arthropods associated with Azorean organic agricultural systems provides an essential baseline for investigating the ecological processes that underpin natural pest regulation and other ecosystem functions.

Methodologically, the study is built for comparability. Six orchards certified under the Organic Production System on Terceira Island were sampled using SLAM traps, the Sea, Land and Air Malaise design, together with Active Aerial Search and Foliage Beating. The main objective was to characterise the diversity and distribution of arthropods, with particular emphasis on taxa associated with biological control, in orchards managed under organic production, comparing species composition and abundance between orchard interiors and adjacent hedgerows. The sampling took place in the Azorean Archipelago, which experiences a temperate oceanic climate with mild temperatures year-round at lower elevations and generally high levels of precipitation. The dataset includes records from multiple arthropod groups, with particular emphasis on predatory taxa that constitute important components of natural-enemy assemblages and may contribute to biological pest control. In addition to a permanent agroforest monitoring plot at Vale da Fonte on Pico Island, the team established permanent agroforest monitoring plots at the six Terceira sites to generate baseline data on terrestrial arthropod communities. Parataxonomists António B. Domingues, Alejandra Ros-Prieto and Sophie Wallon processed specimens, with taxonomic work by Paulo A.V. Borges and Luís Carlos Crespo, and database management by Sébastien Lhoumeau, Sophie Wallon and Paulo A.V. Borges. As the authors emphasise, the value of such a dataset lies in what it enables next: robust tests of how hedgerows, orchard management and island biogeography together shape the communities of predators and parasitoids on which sustainable pest control depends.

Subject of Research: A dataset of arthropods sampled in organic orchards and adjacent hedgerows on Terceira Island, Azores, to support biological control research.

Article Title: Arthropods communities in organic orchards and adjacent hedgerows on Terceira Island (Azores, Portugal): a dataset supporting biological control research

Article References: Wallon, S., Domingues, A., Ros-Prieto, A., Lhoumeau, S., Lopes, D. H., & Borges, P. A. V. (2026). Arthropods communities in organic orchards and adjacent hedgerows on Terceira Island (Azores, Portugal): a dataset supporting biological control research. Biodiversity Data Journal, 14, Article e210298. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.14.e210298

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.14.e210298

Keywords: arthropods, biological control, hedgerows, organic orchards, Azores, Terceira Island, biodiversity, natural enemies, agroecosystems, SLAM traps, dataset, pest management