Insect communities associated with the fruiting bodies of wood decaying macro fungi in Rajiv Gandhi National Park, Nagarahole (Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Karnataka)

Abstract

Insect communities associated with wood decaying macro fungi inhabiting fallen trees in Rajiv Gandhi National Park (Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Karnataka) were investigated during 2005–2007. Fruiting bodies of 19 species of polypores were collected from fallen logs of different species at varied stages of deterioration. A total of 43,711 insects belonging to 91 morpho species from ten different orders were found inhabiting the fruiting bodies. Coleoptera was found to be the most abundant and species rich group. The insect emergence followed a temporal pattern. Some of the most common groups like Ciidae and Erotylidae had two or three generations per year. Ciidae was found to be the most generalist feeder, in which one unidentified species was found to breed on 11 species of fungal fruit bodies. There existed a niche partitioning among the insect communities in fresh and dried fruiting bodies. A mild positive correlation was found between the number of insect species emerged and weight of the fruiting bodies. The study elaborated the intricate relationships among wood substrates, fungal fruiting bodies and the insect faunal diversity it supports and highlighted the fact that the wood decaying fungi and thereby decomposing wood are important components of forest ecosystem, conserving valuable diversity of insects.