Impact of some Anthropogenic Activities on the Diversity of Ground Insects at the Southern Area of Port Said, Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Biological and Geological Sciences, Faculty of Education (Port Said), Suez Canal University

2 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, 41522 Ismailia, Egypt

Abstract

The present study aims to assess the impact of some anthropogenic activities on the ground insects.
Ground insects were sampled, by using pitfall traps in a nested design, from four different localities in
the southern area of Port Said, Egypt, for 15 months (from July 2004 to September 2005). The localities
represented three different human impact activities (industrial, animal rearing and cultivated localities)
and one control locality. Each locality was represented by two separated sampling sites (20X20 meters),
and each site had twenty individual traps distributed systematically. Habitat type and plant covers were
clearly different among the four localities and to a less extent within localities. Species diversity varied
spatially among the different localities. There was no significant difference in the diversity of ground
insects among the study period. Nevertheless, the cultivated sites had the highest diversity, while animal
rearing sites had the lowest one. In contrast, animal rearing sites recorded the highest species richness;
while cultivated sites had the lowest one. The different localities had distinct and characteristic groups
of species responding to anthropogenic activities.

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