[Insect community structure and its stability in a Zanthoxylum bungeanum garden with different planting pattern].

An investigation was made on the insect community composition and structure in a Zanthoxylum bungeanum garden with corn-soybean - Z. bungeanum intercropping, soybean - Z. bungeanum intercropping, corn - Z. bungeanum intercropping, and only Z. bungeanum planting in Zhaotong City of Yunnan Province, and the community character index and principal component analysis were used to study the characters and stability of the insect community. A total of 326 insect species were recorded. In intercropped plots, the abundance, diversity, and evenness index of insect community were higher while the dominance index was lower, compared with those in monocultured Z. bungeanum plot. The diversity index of insect community decreased in the order of corn-soybean- Z. bungeanum intercropping > soybean - Z. bungeanum intercropping > corn - Z. bungeanum intercropping > only Z. bungeanum planting, and the insect community in corn-soybean - Z. bungeanum intercropping plot was relatively stable.