Diversity and abundance of some insect fauna in Kuala Lompat, Krau Wildlife Reserve Forest

Abstract

The present work is designed to study diversity and abundance of three insect orders (Diptera, Orthoptera and Hemiptera) in Kuala Lompat, Krau Wildlife Reserve Forest and to evaluate the relationship between diversity of insects with the changes in environmental gradient from forest fringe to the inner forest. The study site was at Kuala Lompat, Krau Wildlife Reserve Forest. Samplings were conducted using Malaise traps. Three trails were established which were Trail A (represented the forest fringe), Trail B and Trail C (represented the inner forest). During this study, a total of 1236 individuals under 29 families and 58 morphospecies were collected. Binary data of three orders revealed that the species richness of Hemiptera was higher at the inner forest while Diptera and Orthopera were most abundant at the forest fringe. There was no significant interaction (P>0.05) on the total morphospecies and abundance of individual per family for all three orders from all study site. For Diptera, Trail C had the highest diversity index (H' =2.65) while Trail B (H'=1.75) had the lowest diversity. For Orthoptera, the results showed that Trail B had the highest diversity index (H' =1.88) while Trail C had the lowest diversity (H'=1.59). Meanwhile, for Hemiptera, the results showed that Trail C had the highest diversity index (H' = 1.78) while Trail B showed the lowest diversity index with H' = 0.94. The H; values are not significantly different (P>0.05) between Trail A and Trail B, Trail A and Trail C and between Trail B and C for all three orders studied. It is found that diversity patterns vary widely between taxa that differ in dispersal ability, habitat requirements, food specialization or trophic level.