Ecology and Biogeography of the Ground Fauna of Suez Canal Region

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Nature Conservation Sector, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Ministry of Environment, Egypt

2 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

3 Department of Land and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

Abstract

Ground invertebrate fauna is the most diverse and important group to maintain the soil health. The Suez Canal region has a unique status in Egypt. Since the opening of Suez Canal for international navigation in 1869, population in the Canal region increased and green areas expanded. The expanded cities have initiated new habitats and attracted some taxa from the Nile valley to the west bank of the Suez Canal. This study is an attempt to investigate the distribution pattern of ground-macroinvertebrates in correlation with land-use along the west bank of Suez Canal in a considerable region. The faunal samples were collected using pitfall traps in 9 sites belonging to 3 stations; Abusultan, Fanara and Geneifa, with different land use practices (natural desert, agricultural areas and urbanized coast). A number of 3502 arthropod individuals belong to 129 species were recorded. The highest species richness was shown by Coleopterans, while the most abundant group was Hymenoptera. The agricultural and the urbanized coastal sites have shown significantly lower abundance of ground macro-invertebrates in comparison with the natural desert habitats. It was concluded that urbanization and agricultural practices have altered soil properties, thus they adversely affected the abundance of ground invertebrate assemblage.

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