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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Vegetable Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #318489
Title: Arthropod fauna associated with wild and cultivated cranberries in Wisconsin

Author
item Steffan, Shawn
item SINGLETON, MERRITT - University Of Wisconsin
item DRANEY, MICHAEL - University Of Wisconsin
item Chasen, Elissa
item JOHNSON, KYLE - University Of Wisconsin
item Zalapa, Juan

Submitted to: Great Lakes Entomologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/15/2017
Publication Date: 12/20/2017
Citation: Steffan, S.A., Singleton, M.E., Draney, M.L., Chasen, E.M., Johnson, K.E., Zalapa, J.E. 2017. Arthropod fauna associated with wild and cultivated cranberries in Wisconsin. Great Lakes Entomologist. https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol50/iss2/11.

Interpretive Summary: This work establishes baseline information on the arthropod fauna associated with wild and cultivated cranberries. Given the importance of cranberries to Wisconsin agriculture, such information is key to understanding which arthropods are beneficial, pestiferous, or neutral to cranberry yields. Impact: Cranberry growers consistently rank insect pests as the top threats to their harvestable crop. It is important, therefore, to understand which arthropod taxa are present in cultivated and wild populations of cranberries.

Technical Abstract: The cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton) is an evergreen, trailing, dwarf shrub native to North American peatlands. It is cultivated commercially in the US and Canada, with major production centers in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Québec, and British Columbia. Despite the agricultural importance of cranberry in Wisconsin, relatively little is known of its arthropod associates, particularly the arachnid fauna. Here we report preliminary data on the insect and spider communities associated with wild and cultivated cranberries in Wisconsin. We then compare the insect and spider communities of wild cranberry systems to those of cultivated cranberries, indexed by region. Approximately 7,400 arthropods were curated and identified, spanning more than 100 families, across 11 orders. The vast majority of specimens and diversity derived from wild ecosystems. In both the wild and cultivated systems, the greatest numbers of families were found among the Diptera (midges, flies) and Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps), but numerically, the Hymenoptera and Araneae (spiders) were dominant. Within the spider fauna, 18 new county records, as well as a new Wisconsin state record, were documented. While more extensive sampling will be needed to better resolve arthropod biodiversity in North American cranberry systems, our findings represent baseline data on the breadth of arthropod diversity in the upper Midwest of the US.