Diversity And Vertical Distribution Of Geometrid Moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) In Three Forest Types In Sarawak
Tropical geometrid moth communities are able to reflect ecological differences between habitats and this make them as a suitable biological indicator group in the study of biodiversity. Diversity and vertical distribution of geometrid moths, were investigated in a peat swamp forest, a lowland fore...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Final Year Project Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS)
2009
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/34084/1/Iris%20Foo%20ft.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/34084/ |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Tropical geometrid moth communities are able to reflect ecological differences between habitats and this make them as a
suitable biological indicator group in the study of biodiversity. Diversity and vertical distribution of geometrid moths, were
investigated in a peat swamp forest, a lowland forest and a kerangas forest, using modified Pennsylvanian light traps
conducted for a total of ten nights from September to December 2008. Light traps were installed in understorey and
upperstorey, and left to function from 1800 hrs-0600 hrs the following day. A total of 252 individuals comprising of 55
species from six subfamilies of the geometrid moths were recorded. The Shannon-Weiner diversity indexes for the geometrid
moths collected from peat swamp forest, lowland forest and kerangas forest were 4.324, 3.882 and 3.782 respectively. The
Shannon-Weiner diversity indices at the upperstorey in these three forest types were surprisingly higher than the understorey
with a significant difference between these two levels. This result stands in contrast to previous studies showing more diverse_
geometrids collected in the lower level. All the three forest types were characterized by the dominance of the subfamily
Ennominae which was recorded as the most abundant moths at both the understorey and upperstorey. The four commonest
species collected in this study were Calletaera subexpressa o (Ennominae), Craspedosis arycandata C (Ennominae),
Pyrrhorachis pyrrhogona C (Geometrinae) and Noreia achloraria C (Desmobathrinae) were represented by.25, 24,23 and 21
individuals respectively. 12.7% of the total species collected (seven species) were considered as rare species. They were
Agathia cristifera o (Geometrinae), Agathia laetata o (Geometrinae), Comibaena biplaga o (Geometrinae), Comostola
cedilla (Geometrinae), Dindica olivacea C (Geometrinae), Ornithospila avicularia € (Geometrinae) and Eumelea rosalia
o (Oenochrominae). As many as 22 species collected were represented by single individuals (singletons), comprising of
40.0% of total species collected. These singletons were highly represented in Ennominae and Geometrinae with 40.9% each |
|---|