An Ecological Assessment of Insect Diversity at Rawakeeb Semi- Arid Land in Sudan

Authors: Maha Abdellatif A* and Abdel Gadir

DOI: 10.23880/izab-16000672

Volume 9, Issue 2

Abstract

Sudan boasts diverse ecological zones with unique biodiversity. Some of these zones were subjected to degradation due to climate change and humanintervention. Several attempts and sometimes serious efforts have been made to mitigate such degradation, includingthe formulation of legislative rules to regulate their use and the development of pilot projects to adopt and recommend appropriate conservation methods. Insects are considered as main components of the ecosystem biodiversity. They gain this importance via their vital role in providing ecological processes that sustain ecosystems such as nutrient cycling, plant growth and productivity, and soil and water conservation. Despite their vital role, they receive little attention from many ecologists in Sudan. Thus, this paper was aimed to undertake an ecological assessment for the insect fauna at Rawakeeb semiarid land (lat.15 ͦ 2͘ &15 ͦ36N, long. 32 ͦ 0& 32 ͦ 10E). A general survey was done to collect insects using direct and butterfly netting collection methods. The ecological assessment was carried out by classifying encountered insects and identifying their biodiversity value using the Simpson. Diversity Index and counting the relative abundance of the insect species. The impact of the prevailing climatic conditions of soiland air temperatures and relative humidity on insect was evaluated using Pearson's correlation co-efficient. Results: Obtained indicated the collection of 672 insect specimens identified into 6 orders, 8 families, and 9 species. Insect orders included Hemiptera, Blattodea, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Diptera, and Bacillidae.The encountered insects showed a high diversity index of 0.87. The relative abundance value of the collected insect specimens varied from 22.32% in Microtermes sp, 10.42 % in Spilostethus sp, and 1.48 % in Clonaria aegyptiaca. Person correlation coefficient values indicated positive correlations of all insect species to soil and air temperature and relative humidity. These results could be ascribed to the suitability of the prevailing climatic and other habitat conditions for the proliferation of the encountered insects.

Keywords: Sudan; Semiarid; Insects; Biodiversity; Relative Abundance

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