Diversity and distribution of class insecta from different landscapes at Kuala Keniam reserve forest, Pahang

Abstract

A study on the diversity and abundance of Class Insecta was conducted at Kuala Keniam National Park, Pahang, Malaysia from 30th October 2021 to 1st November 2021 using malaise traps. Three environmental gradients namely forest fringe, middle forest, and inner forest were chosen and set up with Trap 1, Trap 2, and Trap 3, respectively. One trap was placed for each landscape. A total of 2732 insect specimens belonging to 12 orders and 264 morphospecies of insects were collected. The orders identified were Collembola, Homoptera, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Trichoptera, Blattodea, Mantodea, Siphonaptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera. Dipteran were the most abundant order found where 297 individuals (72 morphospecies) were collected in the forest fringe followed by 588 individuals (61 morphospecies) in the middle forest and 1032 individuals (41 morphospecies) in the inner forest. Mantodea recorded the lowest number of individuals collected where it can be only found in the forest fringe with only one individual. Shannon–Wiener Diversity Index (Hʹ) showed that the forest fringe had the highest diversity value with Hʹ = 1.42, followed by the middle forest with Hʹ = 1.09 and the inner forest with Hʹ = 0.74. The Evenness Index (Eʹ) and Margalef Richness Index (Rʹ) also showed the highest value from the forest fringe with Eʹ = 0.34 and Rʹ = 1.71 respectively, compared to the middle forest and the inner forest. Kruskal– Wallis test showed that there was a significant difference in insect distribution across the environmental gradients where a value of P<0.05. Overall, this study suggests that the diversity of Class Insecta at the three different locations in Kuala Keniam National Park is low. The short duration of sampling together with the rainy season might be the factors contributed to the low number of insects diversity. This study is important as it provides the baseline data for further study of insect in Kuala Keniam National Park, Pahang as well as to increase the awareness of conservation of insects.