Diversity and Abundance of Terrestrial Arthropod in Federal University Wukari and Kwararafa University Wukari’s Farms, Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

The biodiversity of terrestrial arthropods in Federal University Wukari (FUW) and Kwararafa University Wukari (KUW)’s farm, Taraba State, Nigeria was studied from September to November, 2021 simultaneously using pitfall traps, sweep nets, and hand picking. A total of 1686 individuals of arthropods belonging to 31 species of 28 families and 17 orders were collected from FUW’s farm while 2487 individuals of terrestrial arthropods belonging to 29 species of 25 families and 16 orders from KUW. Orders Hymenoptera (1110 individuals), Coleoptera (394 individuals) and Orthoptera (72 individuals) dominated fauna in FUW while Orders Hymenoptera (1005), Dipteral (766), Orthoptera (197), and Dictyoptera (107) dominated in KUW’s farm. The most abundant species in FUW’s farm was Dorylus nigricans (Soldier ant) of the family Formicidae belonging to the order Hymenoptera while the most abundant species of KUW’s farm was Musca domestica (house fly) belonging to the Family Muscidae of the order Diptera. Shannon-Weiners diversity index (H1) showed a relative uniformity of data with the highest value of 2.483 in the month of September for KUW while the highest value of 2.007 was also seen in the month of September in FUW. The month with the highest number of recorded arthropod was September in FUW with a value of 5.106 while in KUW, it was seen in the month of October with a value of 4.456. The organic matter and nitrogen content in the soil gotten from FUW’s farm was 1.60% and 0.73% respectively while that of KUW’s farm was 0.78% and 0.90% respectively. The pH of the soil from both studies was alkalinic in nature with a value of 7.85 and 7.69 respectively. The terrestrial arthropod species inventory will increase our knowledge of the arthropod fauna in FUW and KUW’s farm.