Ecological composition of communities of herpetobiont insects of the Botanical Garden of Volgograd Pedagogical University

: The species diversity of the herpetobiont complex in the biocenosis of the botanical garden is considered, the percentage of ground insects by the method of nutrition in the artificial ecosystem is analyzed, measures to attract beneficial insects to the territory of the botanical garden are proposed. The purpose of the work: to study a group of coleoptera insects from the herpetobiont complex on the territory of the botanical garden. The method of Barber pitfall traps was used to study coleoptera herpetobionts. The collected insects were recorded and stored for further processing and determination in the laboratory conditions. The entomocomplex of herpetobionts of the botanical garden consists of 15 species from 5 families. The most numerous are the Carabidae, the dominant species are Calathus ambiguus and Cicindela campestris). The subdominant species is Harpalus rufipes, the usual species are Calathus distinguendus, Silpha obscura, Poecilus versicolor. Rare species are Dorcus parallelipipedus, Crypticus quisquilius, Cymindis miliaris. The monotony and species poverty of the Botanical Garden ecosystem is determined by a special complex system of agrotechnical measures, the use of chemicals to exterminate insect pests, and the intensity of anthropogenic pressure. All this leads to instability and variability of the ecosystem. These findings confirm the thesis that overdomination is characteristic of unstable communities with disturbed equilibrium. As a result, there is an increase in insect pests of plants. The study of ground insects by the mode of nutrition revealed 4 groups:


Introduction
Currently, the composition of fauna in urbanized biocenoses attracts scientific attention due to its adaptability to recreational loads and technogenic pressure.The factors of existence Corresponding author: forest61@bk.ru of urbanized biocenoses affect the composition, structure and number of their population.A special group of invertebratesherpetobionts -react most actively to changes in the environment [1].
The relevance of studying herpetobiont insects is dictated by the role they play in urban biocenoses, often participating in biological methods of pest control.This group of insects is poorly studied, especially there is little information about herpetocomplexes in specialized urban green areas, such as the botanical garden.
The purpose of the work: to study the condition of a group of coleoptera insects from the herpetobiont complex on the territory of the botanical garden.
Tasks: To study the species composition of herpetobiont insects in the botanical garden, to analyze the species diversity of the entomocomplex of the botanical garden, to develop measures to attract beneficial insects to the botanical garden.
The research was carried out on the territory of Volgograd in the Botanical Garden of the VSPU during 2016-2022.The Botanical Garden is an educational and scientific laboratory of the university, where the morphological and decorative characteristics of plants are studied and the most promising species and varieties are selected to form an assortment used in urban landscaping.The Botanical Garden creates conditions conducive to the preservation of rare and endangered plants of the local flora.Native species grow on the territory of the Botanical Garden, as well as introduced plants from different geographical zones.These factors dictate the faunal diversity, including the composition and structure of the entomocomplex.Monitoring the condition of different groups of organisms allows to preserve the faunal uniqueness of the Botanical Garden.
The Botanical Garden of the VSPU is located in the center of the city of Volgograd on the territory of the university courtyard on 1 hectare of land.There is a highway in the immediate vicinity of it.There are 1,430 species, varieties and forms of vascular plants growing in the Botanical Garden.Among them are woody plants (350 species, varieties and forms); perennial herbaceous plants, including local flora (796 species and varieties); annual plants (104 species and varieties); greenhouse plants (180 species, varieties and forms).
The composition of the plantings of the Botanical Garden and its ecological state forms the species composition and the number of insects and plays an important role in the formation of agrobiocenosis.We have studied a group of herpetobiont insects that play an important role in the formation of the ecosystem of the Botanical Garden.
The most common method of Barber pitfall traps was used to study coleoptera herpetobionts.The collected herpetobionts were fixed and stored for further processing [4].The collected entomological material was determined in the laboratory conditions according to the entomological collections of the VSPU [5].
A dominance scale was used to characterize the participation of a particular species in the population.The following abundance classes were identified: over 5%dominant species, 2-5%subdominant, 1-2%common, less than 1%rare [6].
For a comprehensive analysis of the collected material, the following indicators were determined for the characteristics of entomocomplexes: the percentage of species, the percentage of occurrence, the abundance coefficient.These indicators give grounds to judge the fauna of biotopes with sufficient accuracy.The abundance coefficient is of particular importance.This criterion is one of the most essential for practical purposes, as well as for the study of the structure and further ways of formation of fauna.

Results and discussion
The faunal diversity and structure of the group of ground insects of the botanical garden has some qualitative and quantitative features.The species richness of herpetobiont insects in the biocenosis of the Botanical Garden of the VSPU is presented in Table 1.The biodiversity of ground insects on the territory of the Botanical Garden of the VSPU is small.Perhaps this is due to the short duration of the existence of this ecosystem.The entomocomplex of herpetobionts of the botanical garden consists of 15 species from 5 families.The number of collected specimens is 291 pcs.The most numerous ground beetles, the dominant species are Calathus ambiguus (64.9%) and green tiger beetle (21.3%).The subdominant species is the strawberry seed beetle (3.8%), the usual species are the Rhacodiaptomus calatus (1.4%), the multicolored poecile (1.0%), the Silpha obscura (1.4%).Rare species are lesser stag beetle, Crypticus quisquilius, Cymindis: C. laticollis, C. picta -(0.7%);C.miliaris, weevils Otiorhynchus conspersus (0.34%).
Among all the abiotic factors for most ground beetles, the most important is soil moisture, which is provided by systematic watering in the Botanical Garden.The percentage of different groups of herpetobiont insects is shown in Table 2. Despite the small species diversity, the number of beneficial insects in the botanical garden is more than 70%.Among the ground insects, most of the species are from the family Carabidae, the proportion of species of 4 more families is the same and small.The monotony and species poverty of the Botanical Garden ecosystem is determined by a special complex system of agrotechnical measures, the use of chemicals to exterminate insect pests, the intensity of anthropogenic pressure and man-made pollution, all this leads to instability and variability of the ecosystem.
These findings confirm the thesis that overdomination is characteristic of unstable communities with disturbed equilibrium [6].This is the reason for the accumulation in the artificial biocenosis of insect pests of plants, such as: species of aphids (Aphidoidea Latreille), spider mites (Tetranychidae Donnadieu), as well as banded rose sawfly (Arge ochropus Gmemelin), fox-coloured sawfly (Neodiprion sertifer Geeoffroy.),common silvery moth (Autographa gamma Linnaeus), et al.
The data obtained indicate a high sensitivity of the herpetobiont entomocomplex in plantings subject to intensive recreational load and man-made pollution [7].This group of insects can be used as indicators of the state of the environment.The distribution of ground insects by mode of nutrition is shown in Table 3.The spread of zoophages in the Botanical Garden is explained by the abundance of small invertebrates, the nature of vegetation, the level of humidity.Zoophages regulate the number of various invertebrates and the leading place here belongs to ground beetles.Thus, ground beetles take an active role in the extermination of eggs, pupae, larvae and imago of insect pests [8].In order to increase the diversity of the species composition of beneficial insects, it is necessary to create favorable living conditions for them, namely: to provide a food reserve, to provide a botanical garden with an assortment of plants that attract insects; to create shelters where insects can hide during the day; to create decorative houses for wintering.
In the task of attracting useful insects, the creation of shelters for them will help, which are built from a wooden frame in the form of cells of different sizes and such improvised means as cones, bricks, straw, dry leaves, wooden blocks, colored pots, tubular plants, tree bark, moss and so on.Not very stable structures are fixed with nails and ropes.
Each mixborder is selected in such a way as to ensure flowering from spring to late autumn.Each mixborder consists mainly of perennials, located in an open sunny place.Watering on the territory is carried out as the soil dries, depending on weather conditions, without waterlogging the soil.
Attracting various types of insects to the botanical garden will help to achieve a natural balance in the artificial biocenosis and in protecting plantings from insect pests.

Conclusion
The Botanical Garden as an artificial ecosystem in the conditions of a technogenic press is an unstable biocenosis.Especially sensitive in such conditions is a group of ground insects.Its composition is dominated by zoophages of the family Ground beetles (Carabidae),

Table 1 .
The species composition of insects of the Botanical Garden of the VSPU.

Table 2 .
Percentage of insect species diversity.

Table 3 .
Percentage of insects by mode of nutrition.