DNA
Metabarcoding Reveals Flying Arthropod Diversity and Community Turnover Across Ancient Tea Agroforestry Landscapes in Southwest China
Yanlan Xie, Yunyu Wang, Su Liu, Dan Wu, Feiyan Huang, Min He, Wanzhong Tan, Bingliang Xu, Hongrui Zhang, Yanhong Liu ABSTRACT
Ancient tea agroforestry landscapes in Southwest China are structurally complex systems that may support high arthropod diversity, yet their biodiversity value remains poorly documented. We used COI metabarcoding of Malaise‐trap bulk samples to assess flying arthropod assemblages at four tea‐associated sites in the Mengku Ancient Tea and Cultural System, Yunnan, China: a wild ancient tea tree community, a village‐adjacent cultivated ancient tea garden, a forest‐adjacent cultivated ancient tea garden, and a young‐shrub tea plantation. Samples were collected from May to October 2024 and analyzed using OTU‐based diversity and community‐composition approaches. We recovered 5669 arthropod OTUs. Diptera dominated the assemblages, accounting for 57.5% of total OTU richness, followed by Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, and other arthropod groups. OTU richness, alpha diversity, and community composition varied among the four sites. WJC had the highest total OTU richness and mean alpha‐diversity values, whereas DXS yielded the most compositionally distinct assemblage and the largest number of OTUs detected exclusively at that site during this survey. Dominant families included natural enemies, herbivores, and mixed‐function taxa. Seasonal patterns showed higher OTU richness in early summer and September, but lower richness during the main rainy‐season months and October. These findings document marked spatial and seasonal variation in Malaise‐trap‐sampled flying arthropod assemblages. Because each landscape context was represented by a single site, the observed differences cannot be attributed independently to forest association, habitat heterogeneity, or management.