Diversity and Temporal Variation of Insects in Khar Yamaat Nature Reserve, and Post-fire Succession of Selected Beetle Groups

Abstract

This is the first comprehensive study based on a planned and intensive sampling effort that describes the community composition of insects in Khar Yamaat Nature Reserve, Mongolia. As part of ongoing research project in the reserve, we recorded 341 insect species representing 9 orders and 70 families. Coleoptera represented the most speciose order (171 spp.) followed by Lepidoptera (44 spp.) and Orthoptera (33 spp.), whereas Odonata (4 spp.) and Neuroptera (5 spp.) were the least specious. At the family level, the ground beetles (Carabidae, 43 spp.), leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae, 30 spp.), grasshoppers (Acrididae, 25 spp.) and weevil beetles (Curculionidae, 22 spp.) were the most species rich among other families. We selected six ground-dwelling beetle groups for the study of their post-fire succession, and their activity densities among different years after the wildfire were not significantly different. The trophic guilds of selected beetles did not differ much among the years after the wildfire, and across the years, predators were more abundant than the other feeding types. The number of dominating species has fluctuated greatly in the years after the wildfire.