Study of species diversity and richness indices of pests in West Azerbaijan province

Pests are one of the most dangerous factors in the development and cultivation of Poplar. These trees are severely reduced in terms of quantity and quality of the wood products and suffer severe damage due to the damage of harmful insects. This study was conducted to collect and identify important poplar pests in three plantations located in Urmia, Salmas and Khoy and their demographic changes by sampling Poplar pests using methods such as light trap, net trap and direct capture. In each plantation, 30 trees were sampled and the species richness of the poplar pests was calculated by the rarefaction method and their species diversity was calculated using Shannon and Simpson diversity indices. The important identified pests were: dusky clearwing (Paranthrene tabaniformis Rott.), Chaitophorus populi L., puss moth (Cerura vinula L.), Amorpha populi (L.), poplar spiral gall aphid (Pemphigus spirothecae Pass.), Melanophila picta (Pall.), Monosteria unicostata (Muls.& Rey), poplar woolly aphid (Phloemyzus passerini Sign.), Melasoma populi (L.), Capnodis miliaris (Klug.), and poplar minnow moth (Lithocolletis populifoliella Tr.). The values of diversity and evenness indices calculated in all three regions did not have a significant difference at the level of 5%, which showed the climate did not affect these indices. The poplar minnow moth was considered to be the most destructive pest of the poplar cultivations in West Azerbaijan and its activity on various poplar colonies was significant.