Community structure of arthropods on the sea of sand at Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park

Abstract

Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) is the only conservation area in Indonesia that is unique with 5.25 ha of sea sand. A unique area usually presents specific organism within it. Such as Imperata cylindrical, it is one of the reeds that well-growth in the sea sand of TNBTS. Meanwhile, research on arthropods in a particular sea of sand habitats has never been done specifically in Indonesia. Thus, encouraging the authors to determine the differences of arthropods community structure between densely vegetated (I. cylindrical) area and non-vegetated area in the Sea of Sand at TNBTS. Pitfall-trap and funnel berlese were performed with 20 repetitions, respectively. Community structure analyses were identified using Diversity Index (H’), Importance Value Index (IVI), and Bray-Curtis Index. Results showed that the IVI score in the vegetated area is 129 and dominated by Formicidae, while non-vegetated areas present 144 scores and dominated by Aphididae. The diversity index (H’) at the location with vegetation is higher than the location without vegetation. However, both locations showed a low diversity level. Bray-Curtis index shows an unsimilarity between two locations, indicated by 0.1 scores. This finding reveals that the arthropods community structure in the sea of sand between the vegetated area and non-vegetated area is different.