The Use of GIS Methodology in Jumping Plant Lice (Hemiptera: Psylloidae) Studies in Serbia

Abstract

Entomofaunistic studies contain a large number of data regarding the number of collected species, the number of individuals within species, time of collection, localities, species biology and morphology natural enemies and hosts. Besides thematic and temporal components this kind of studies include spatial component which is crucial for the use of GIS methodology and advanced possibilities of geospatial analysis. During our studies on jumping plant lice (Psylloidea) fauna and their natural enemies on the territory of Serbia which lasted for several years, a large number of spatially referenced data related to this group of insects were collected. The process of collecting, archiving and classifying the data on each species was improved by applying the GIS methodological approach after which the data were entered into database. The analysis of data using thematic and spatial queries, as well as graphic, numeric and textual display of the results from studies enabled simpler and more complete survey of horizontal and vertical distribution of jumping plant lice, their biology and relationship with plants, predators and parasitoids.

Istraživanja entomofaune sadrže veliki broj podataka koji se odnose na broj sakupljenih vrsta, broj jedinki u okviru vrste, vreme sakupljanja, istraživane lokalitete, biologiju i morfologiju istraživanih vrsta, prirodne neprijatelje i domaćine. Pored tematske i vremenske komponente, ova istraživanja sadrže i prostornu komponentu, koja je ključna u primeni GIS metodologije i naprednih mogućnosti geoprostornih analiza. Tokom višegodišnjih sopstvenih istraživanja faune lisnih buva (Psylloidea) i njihovih prirodnih neprijatelja na prostoru Srbije, prikupljen je veliki broj prostorno određenih podataka o njima. Proces prikupljanja, arhiviranja i klasifikovanja podataka o ovoj vrsti unapređen je primenom GIS metodološkog pristupa pri čemu su ti podaci smešteni u projektovanu bazu podataka. Analizom podataka putem tematskih i prostornih upita, zatim grafičkim, numeričkim i tekstualnim prikazivanjem rezultata istraživanja, omogućeno je jednostavnije i celovitije sagledavanje horizontalne i vertikalne rasprostranjenosti lisnih buva, njihove biologije i odnosa prema biljkama, predatorima i parazitoidima.