Diversity and Distributional Patterns of Grasshoppers in Croplands of District Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan
Diversity and Distributional Patterns of Grasshoppers in Croplands of District Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan
Mubashar Hussain*, Syeda Nafeesa Kazam, Aqsa Noreen, Suleman Hussain Shah, Uswa Zeb and Aniza Iftikhar
ABSTRACT
Grasshoppers are major herbivores that occupy agricultural landscapes across the globe due to their ecological, behavioural, and taxonomic diversification. The periodic assessment of the population of grasshoppers in field crops is crucial in devising and implementing pest management strategies. This study explored croplands to document the diversity of grasshoppers from selected locales of district Gujrat. Sampling was conducted on sunny bright days between 11 am to 4 pm by using a sweep net. Data was collected fortnightly from 2015 to 2016. We collected 1266 specimens representing 19 species which belonged to two suborders, three families, nine subfamilies, 12 tribes, and 15 genera. Acrididae (933 specimens; 15 species) was the most abundant family followed by Tettigonidae (1197 specimens; three species) and Pyrgomorphidae (136 specimens; one species). Maximum relative abundance was shown by Oxya hyla hyla (12.80 %) followed by Acrida turrita (12.72 %), Atractomorpha crenulata (10.74 %), Tettigonia viridissimia (9.79 %) and Phlaeoba panteli (9.72 %). Species richness showed non-significant variations in the study sites. Jamal Pur Saydan was the only site which showed maximum species richness with 19 species and 102 specimens. Whereas seven sites out of 14 showed the presence of 18 species. About 56 % of the contribution in the relative abundance was owed to four species belonging to the suborder Caelifera and one species to the suborder Ensifera. Acrididae (73.70 %) was the largest family that contributed maximum in species abundance followed by Tettigonidae (15.56%), and Pyrgomorphidae (10.74 %). The values of Shannon-wiener index (2.48-2.71) and evenness (0.71-0.84) showed all sites have relatively higher diversity. More explorative studies associated with specific crops and damage assessment need to be conducted for pest management and conservation of biodiversity.
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