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J. Env. Bio-Sci., 2019: Vol. 33 (2): 303-310 ISSN 0973-6913 (Print), ISSN 0976-3384 (On Line)

DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE OF COLEOPTERA IN AN OAK FOREST OF KUMAUN

HIMALAYA, INDIA
A. Garia*, D. Goswami and B. R. Kaushal
Post Graduate Department of Zoology,
Kumaun University, Nainital-263002, India
Email*: yogitagaria@gmail.com

Received: 04-07-2019 Accepted: 25-12-2019

Species richness, abundance and biomass and species diversity of Coleoptera in an oak forest of Kumaun Himalaya, Uttarakhand
were determined during August 2013 to July 2015. A total of 18 species belonging to 7 families were collected. Maximum abundance
and biomass were 16 ind. ha-1 and 1565 mg ha-1, respectively. Family Chrysomelidae was the dominant family with maximum
number of individuals (37.9%). Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H') ranged from 0 to 0.28 and Evenness (E) ranged from 0 to 0.033
indicating lower values were due to lower number of species and individuals recorded. Further, 12 species of pollinators were
recorded visiting different plants and trees regularly.
Key words: Coleoptera, species richness, abundance, species diversity, pollinators, oak forest.

The kingdom Animalia is represented by 1,552,319 species
under 40 phyla. Among these, the phylum Arthropoda alone
represents 1,242,040 species, or about 80 per cent of the
total. The most successful group, the Insecta (1,020,007
species), accounts for about 66 per cent of all animals. The
most diverse and successful insect order, Coleoptera (387,100
species), represents about 38 per cent of all insect species
(Zhang 2011). Beetles (Coleoptera) are considered the most
taxonomically diverse insect group that comprises major
components of ecosystems in terms of biomass, species
richness and ecological roles (Stack 2015). About 400,000
species have been described (Hammond 1992), comprising
about 25% of the Earth's total animal diversity (Rosenzweig
1995; Hunt et al. 2007). Beetles play important roles in
pollination, herbivory, granivory, predator-prey interactions,
decomposition and nutrient cycling, and soil disturbances
(Huffaker and Gutierrez 1999).
The diversity of beetles is very wide. They are found in all
major habitats, except marine and the Polar regions. There
are particular species that are adapted to practically every
kind of diet. The family Scarabaeidae is the largest family of
insects which contains more than 30000 species in the world
(Fincher et al., 1981). Coleoptera are found in nearly all natural
habitats, that is, vegetative foliage, from trees and their bark
to flowers, leaves, and underground near roots, even inside
plants like galls, tissue, including dead or decaying ones (Gullan
and Cranston, 2010). About 3/4 of beetle species are
phytophagous in both the larval and adult stages, living in or
on plants, wood, fungi, and a variety of stored products,
NAAS Rating (2019)-4.43
including cereals, tobacco, and dried fruits.
The present investigation is aimed at understanding certain
structural and functional aspects of an oak forest community
in Kumaun Himalaya. The main objectives were to determine
species richness, abundance and biomass, species and
trophic level diversity, secondary net production and role of
insects as pollinators in an oak forest from August 2013 to
July 2015.
Study area: The study site Naina Devi Himalayan Bird
Conservation Reserve is located at Kilbury (29o 39 'N and 79o
44'E longitude; altitude 2528m) about 13 km from Nainital.
The area studied is approximately 2 ha and is dominated by
Quercus leucotrichophora, A. Camus, Q. floribunda Lindl., Q.
semecarpifolia Smith, Q. lanuginosa D. Don and Q. glauca
Thunb. tree species. Temperature ranged from 4.6oC to 25.7oC
(June). Maximum rainfall (69.2%) was reported during the
months of July to September. On this basis, the year can be
divided into three seasons namely, rainy (July to October),
winter (November to February) and summer (March to June).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Sampling of insects was done at an interval of 30 days. The
insects were collected by "Sweep sampling method (Gadagkar
et al., 1990) and hand-picking (Jonathan, 1990). The collected
insects were killed in jars containing ethyl acetate and were
oven-dried to constant weight (600C for 24 h). Each dried
specimen was weighed in a single pan electric balance (0.01
mg accuracy) for biomass estimation. The collected insects
 GARIA, GOSWAMI AND KAUSHAL
were identified at Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.
Species Diversity and Evenness: Species diversity H' (S) was
calculated using Shannon-Wiener expression (1963):
H' (P) = Type equation here. S
H'(S) = -  pi log pi
i=1
Where Pi = ni/N; ni is the number of species
present in the season; and N is the number of individuals, S
denotes the number of seasons.
Evenness (Buzas and Gibson's evenness) E2: Buzas and
Gibson's Evenness (E2) was calculated using:
E2= eH / S
Where, S is the number of taxa and H is the Shannon Index.
Secondary production comprises that portion of energy which
is assimilated by the consumer and is transferred into organic
matter, useful as source of energy for other organisms in
ecosystem. Time series biomass data was analyzed using
Wiegert's (1965) equation for the estimation of secondary
production:
n
P = S + S (Ni + Ni– 1) (Wi – Wi-1)
i=2 2 with minimum temperature (r=0.738; p  0.01; df=12) (Fig.
Where,
Ni = Number of insect present at time 1,
Wi = Mean weight per insect at time 1,
i = Sampling time (Date)
S = Standing crop at time when i = 1
It was assumed that Ni  Ni-1 and Wi  Wi-1. However, when
Wi was less than Wi-1, the production was considered to be
zero.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Species richness: A total of 193 individuals belonging to 18
species of 7 families were collected (Table 1). Family
Coccinellidae was dominant both in terms of number of species
(33.3%) and individuals (32.7%) collected (Table 2).
Monthly variation in the species content is presented in Table
3. Maximum numbers of species (09) were recorded in the
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months of June and July while Coleopterans were completed
absent during winters in the months of (January and February).
Species richness was positively correlated with maximum
temperature (r=0.88; P  0.01; df=12) (Fig.1a), minimum
temperature (r=0.75; P  0.01; df=12) (Fig. 1b), and rainfall
(r=0.7; P  0.01; df=12) (Fig. 1c).
Abundance and Biomass: Inter-annual variations in
population density occurred: density ranged from 0 ind. ha-1
(30 December) to 11 ind. ha-1 (30 August) during August 2013
to July 2014, and from 0 ind. ha-1 (30 December) to 30 ind.
ha-1 (30 June) during August 2014 to July 2015.
Abundance of Coleoptera was positively correlated with
maximum temperature (r=7580; p  0.01; df=12), (Fig. 2a),
minimum temperature (r=0.873; p  0.01; df=12) (Fig. 2b),
and rainfall (r=0.738; p<<0.05; df=12) (Fig. 2c).
Biomass values ranged from 0 mg ha-1 (30 December) to
1095 mg ha-1 (30 August) during August 2013 to July 2014,
and from 0 mg ha-1 (30 December) to 2960 mg ha-1 (30 June)
during August 2014 to July 2015.
Biomass of Coleoptera was positively correlated with
maximum temperature (r=0.749; p  0.01; df=12), (Fig. 3a),
3b), and with rainfall (r=0.745; p<<0.05; df=12) (Fig. 3c).

Abundance and biomass of Coleopteron were also positively
correlated with maximum temperature (r=0.998; p  0.01;
df=12), (Fig. 4).
Species Diversity and Evenness: Shannon index of
diversity is considered to be the most complete measures of
diversity because it takes into account both number of
species and the abundance of each species (Shannon and
Wiener, 1963). The Shannon Wiener Diversity Index (H') and
Evenness (E) calculated for each month is presented in Table
3.
Species diversity varied from 0 to 0.33.Maximum species
diversity (0.33) in the month of July and minimum (Zero) during
the months of January and February. Buzas's Evenness which
takes into account the distribution of species and their
numbers across gradients has returned low values between
0 to 0.080.
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Table 1: Species and number of individuals coleopteran of collected in the oak

and pine forests during August, 2013 to July, 2015

S. No. Taxonomic composition Number of individuals %

Family-Coccinellidae
1. Coccinella septumpunctata Linn. 37 19.2
2. E.viginitioctopunctata Fabricus 6 3.1
3. Palaeoneda auriculataMulsant 8 4.1
4. Micraspis univittata Hope 4 2.1
5. Psyllobora bisoctonotata Muls 3 1.6
6. Adonia variegate Goeze 5 2.6
Family-Chrysomelidae
7. Aulacophora foveicollisLucas 4 2.1
8. Haltica cyanea Weber 7 3.6
9. Zygogramma bicolorata Pallister 4 2.1
10. Merista quadrifasciata Hope 11 5.7
11. Altica sp. 47 24.4
Family-Carabidae
12. Chlaenius sp. 6 3.1
Family-Scarabaeidae
13. Onitis philemon Fabricius 5 2.6
14. Oxycentonia versicolor Fabricius 6 3.1
15. Anomala varicornis 9 4.7
Family-Tenebrionidae
16. Lagria sp. 8 4.1
Family-Meloidae
17. Mylabris cichorri Linn. 22 11.3
 Family- Cerambycidae
18. Lamiinae sp. 1 0.5
Total 193 100.0
Table 2: Percent contribution of species and individuals of different families
of Coleoptera
Family Species Individuals
Number (%) Number (%)
Coccinellidae 6 33.3 63 32.7
Chrysomelidae 5 27.7 73 37.8
Carabidae 1 5.6 6 3.1
Scarabaeidae 3 16.6 20 10.4
Tenebrionidae 1 5.6 8 4.1
Meloidae 1 5.6 22 11.4
Cerambycidae 1 5.6 1 0.5
Total 18 100.0 193 100.0

Monthly fluctuations recorded were due to changes in the were not recorded due to extreme cold conditions. Diversity of
numerical importance of some of the species. Diversity was order Coleoptera varies with season, being abundant for only
zero during the months of January and February when insects a few months and absent or rare during other months of the
 GARIA, GOSWAMI AND KAUSHAL (306)

Table 3: Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H') and Evenness of Coleopteron in an oak forest
during August, 2013 to July, 2015
Months S (Richness) N (Abundance) H’ (Shannon index) E (Evenness)
August 7 7 0.22 0.032
September 5 6 0.20 0.041
October 4 5 0.18 0.046
November 3 4 0.16 0.053
December 0 0 0 0
January 0 0 0 0
February 0 0 0 0
March 2 4 0.16 0.080
April 6 9 0.25 0.043
May 6 7 0.22 0.037
June 9 14 0.31 0.035
July 9 16 0.33 0.037

Fig. 1a

Fig. 1b
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Fig. 1c

Fig.1a,b,c: Correlation between maximum temperature and species richness(1a), minimum

temperature and species richness (1b) and rainfall and species richness (1c) collected in the
oak forest during August 2013 to July 2015

Fig. 2a
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Fig. 2b

Fig. 2c
Fig.2a-c. Correlation between maximum temperature and abundance (2a), minimum temperature
and abundance (2b) and rainfall and abundance (2c) collected in the oak forest during August
2013 to July 2015

Fig. 3a
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Fig. 3b

Fig. 3c
Fig.3a-c. Correlation between maximum temperature and biomass (3a), minimum temperature
and biomass (3b) and rainfall and biomass (3c) collected in the oak forest during August 2013 to
July 2015

Fig. 4 Correlation between abundance and biomass of total insects collected in the oak forest
during August 2013 to July 2015
 GARIA, GOSWAMI AND KAUSHAL
year.
Insects as pollinators: Twelve species of coleopteran
pollinators visiting different plants and trees were recorded in
the present study. Pollinators are essential for survival of forest
ecosystems and strongly influence ecological interactions,
floral diversity and genetic variation in the plants community.
Although 80% the insect pollination is performed by
Hymenoptera, bees in particular (Sihag, 1988; Taha and
Bayoumi, 2009; Joshi and Joshi, 2010) but also by Lepidoptera
(Hodges et al., 2002, Sharma and Mansotra, 2015, Kumar et
al., 2016 and Sharma et al., 2020), Coleoptera (Pande, 2013,
Joshi, et al., 2016) and Diptera (Larson et al., 2001). Pollinators
recorded in the present study could also thus fulfill ecological
functions such as pollination and plant-insect interactions. It
is thus concluded from the present study that population of
coleoptera is influenced by environmental factors and refuge
habitat. Low species Diversity (H') and Evenness (E) could be
attributed to low species richness and abundance of insects.
Natural habitats conservation is very important for the
existence of coleopterans species. Further studies are required
for the identification of rare species of Coleoptera.
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