Abundance and diversity of soil arthropods in a tropical deciduous forest and mangrove forest of Kerala, India

Abstract

The abundance and diversity of soil arthropods in the Marottichal tropical deciduous forest and Kodungallur mangrove habitat of Thrissur District were studied. A total of 98 species belonging to 15 orders and 5 classes were obtained from the study area. Of these, 59 species belonging to 13 orders and 3 classes were recorded from forest habitat and 47 species belonging to 8 orders and 4 classes from mangroves. Order Coleoptera was the most abundant in both forest (30.69%) and mangrove (36.5%) habitats. Sorenson’s similarity index showed only 15.09% similarity among species indicating that both the habitats harboured significantly different types of species. It was noted that, as the humidity and moisture decreased, the abundance of species also decreased in both habitats. Temperature was negatively correlated with abundance of species. The diversity in forest habitat (4.03) was higher than mangrove habitat (3.77). Maximum abundance was recorded during monsoon season (June- August) and least during winter season (December- February). The species accumulation curve plotted for the study area indicated that there are more species likely to be discovered in both the habitats.