The cetoniine fauna of the Upper Guinean forests and savannas of Ghana (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae)

The cetoniine fauna of Ghana (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae, excluding the tribes Valgini and Trichiini) is presented based on results from the Ghana Insect Project (GIP). Data from 1,571 specimens including the species and number found at each of 16 collecting sites, collecting methods, months collected, ‘common’ species and habitat associations are presented. The fauna now consists of 109 species in 51 genera. Previously known distributions and specimen label data are given for 31 species (including Genuchina, a subtribe of Cremastocheilini) recorded from Ghana for the first time.Comparisons with the works of Endrödi (1973, 1976) and Joly (2001) are made and several misidentifications are annotated and corrected. GIP results suggest moist evergreen/semi-deciduous forest and Guinea savanna/semi-deciduous forest are species-rich habitats. Faunal lists for four protected areas (Ankasa Resource Reserve, Atewa Range Forest Reserve, Bia National Park and Mole National Park) sampled by both the GIP and Joly (2001, 2011) are presented.PAST (Hammer et al., 2001) was used to estimate GIP inventory completeness through individual rarefaction. EstimateS (Colwell, 2009) was used to estimate total species richness using several classic nonparametric species richness estimators. Based on a data matrix of species abundances from each of the 16 GIP sites, the Chao 2 estimator stabilizes at ca. 113 taxa, and the jackknife 2 estimator at ca. 130 taxa. Richness estimates based on a broader, incidence-based matrix from all three sources GIP, Endrödi (1973, 1976) and Joly (2001, 2011) were: Chao 2 = 153, jackknife 1 = 157, jackknife 2 = 173. Additional sampling in under-sampled habitats such as wet and moist evergreen forest and Guinea savanna, and during the dry and early wet seasons should yield additional species.

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Ecology of small mammals in tropical forest habitats of southern India

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s0266467400009779 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 561-571 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Anjali Chandrasekar-Rao ◽

Melvin E. Sunquist

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Small Mammal ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

Common Species ◽

Natural Forest ◽

Evergreen Forest ◽

Mammal Species ◽

Species Richness And Diversity ◽

Teak Plantation ◽

Forest Sites

ABSTRACTFive species of rodent (Rattus rattus wroughtoni, Mus platythrix, Funambulus tristriatus, Cremnomys blanfordi and Golunda ellioti) were live-trapped over a period of eight months in three different habitat types (moist evergreen forest, moist deciduous forest and teak plantation) in Anaimalais Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu, India. Small mammal densities ranged between 16.3 individuals ha−1 and 20.7 ha−1 for the natural forest sites and were 10.4 ha−1 in the teak plantation. Moist deciduous forest had the highest species richness and diversity scores. Although the teak plantation site had the same mammal species richness as the moist evergreen forest, numbers of individuals and overall small mammal biomass in the plantation was far lower than on the natural forest sites. Compared to moist deciduous forest, species richness and diversity were significantly lower on the teak plantation. R. r. wroughtoni and M. platythrix were the two most common species captured on all three sites. R. r. wroughtoni was the most common small mammal species captured, reaching densities of 14.5 ha−1 in moist evergreen forest. G. ellioti was the least common species, present only in moist deciduous forest. Demographic patterns and microhabitat selection were examined for R. r. wroughtoni, M. platythrix, and F. tristriatus. Only M. platythrix appeared to show any distinct seasonality in reproduction, with an increase in capture of breeding individuals towards the end of the wet season. Discriminant analysis did not reveal any distinct microhabitat preferences for any of the species. However, R. r. wroughtoni showed a significant association with bamboo, and F. tristriatus was associated with areas of higher canopy height and density in moist deciduous forest.

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Helminth Parasite Communities of Two Scorpaena spp. (Scorpaenidae) From Reefs of Veracruz, Mexico

Journal of Agricultural Science ◽

10.5539/jas.v10n9p504 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 504

Author(s):

Jesús Montoya-Mendoza ◽

Sandra Edith Badillo-López ◽

Isabel Araceli Amaro-Espejo ◽

María del Refugio Castañeda-Chávez ◽

Fabiola Lango-Reynoso ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Community Structure ◽

National Park ◽

Common Species ◽

Shannon Index ◽

Marine Fishes ◽

Helminth Community ◽

Component Community ◽

Parasite Communities ◽

Southern Gulf Of Mexico

Scorpaena brasiliensis and S. plumieri are relevant fish species in reef systems, but little is known about their parasitic helminth communities and their structure. This paper describes such community in terms of species richness and diversity. A helminthological study was conducted on 33 specimens of S. brasiliensis and 36 S. plumieri, captured in the Pajaros and Cabezo Reefs, in the Veracruz Reef System National Park (VRSNP), Veracruz, Mexico. The helminth community structure was analyzed in both host species. A total of 10 parasitic species was registered in S. brasiliensis (5 digeneans, 1 cestode, 3 nematodes, 1 acanthocephalan), while S. plumieri hosted 11 species (4 digeneans, 1 monogenean, 1 cestode, 4 nematodes, 1 acanthocephalan), with 8 common species. The species with the highest prevalence were Pseudocapillaria (Icthyocapillaria) sp., with 18.2% and 19.4% in S. brasiliensis and S. plumieri, respectively. Component community richness for S. brasiliensis was S = 10, with Shannon index diversity value of H’ = 2.08. For S. plumieri, such values were of S = 11 and H’ = 1.91. Richness and diversity in the component and infracommunity levels for both hosts are lower than in other parasite communities of marine fishes in the southern Gulf of Mexico.

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A comparison between time-constrained counts and line transects as methods to estimate butterfly diversity in tropical habitats

10.1101/2021.09.04.458959 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Suman Attiwilli ◽

Nitin Ravikanthachari ◽

Krushnamegh Kunte

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Evergreen Forest ◽

Population Declines ◽

Butterfly Diversity ◽

Dry Deciduous Forest ◽

Feasible Alternative ◽

Line Transects ◽

Species Richness And Abundance

Long-term monitoring programmes have revealed catastrophic population declines that are contributing to biodiversity loss. These discoveries and the underlying programmes have been possible because of standardised methods of counting butterflies. Butterflies have been monitored using modified line transects, known in butterfly monitoring schemes as Pollard walks. However, line transects are not feasible in many tropical and mountainous habitats. To tackle this problem, we devised time-constrained (30-min) counts and compared butterfly diversity as estimated through this method with that estimated through line transects (500 m, 10 min) in three tropical habitats in India (evergreen forest, dry deciduous forest and an urban woodland). We tested the efficacy of the two methods to sample species richness and abundance, as well as numbers of rare, endemic and specialist butterflies. We observed greater species richness, and more species of habitat specialists and endemics per sample in time-constrained counts when compared with line transects in evergreen forest, but not in the other two habitats. Thus, time-constrained counts were more efficient at detecting species than line transects in the species-rich evergreen habitat. Apart from this difference, the two sampling methods captured similar levels of species richness and other measures of diversity. Time-constrained counts may thus be viewed as a feasible alternative to line transects to carry out butterfly surveys in tropical and mountainous landscapes. This method is particularly suited for biodiversity assessments and mapping involving citizen science initiatives, which has considerable potential in populous and tech-ready countries such as India.

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Vegetation structure and ecological characteristics of forest of North Andaman Islands (India)

Biological Letters ◽

10.2478/v10120-009-0006-0 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 46 (2) ◽

pp. 105-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. Prasad ◽

A. Sringeswara ◽

C. Reddy ◽

P. Kumari ◽

R. Varalakshmi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Vegetation Structure ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

Evergreen Forest ◽

Species Number ◽

Andaman Islands ◽

Forest Communities ◽

Forest Types ◽

Ecological Characteristics ◽

Girth Class

Vegetation structure and ecological characteristics of forest of North Andaman Islands (India)In this study, 3-ha research plots were established, one each in evergreen, semi-evergreen, and moist deciduous forests of North Andaman Islands. These 3 vegetation types were selected to study the structural aspects of plant diversity in forest communities. Our results showed high species richness and basal area in evergreen forest, high diversity in semi-evergreen forest, and high tree density (trees ha-1) in moist deciduous forest. At family level, the Anacardiaceae and Sterculiaceae dominated all the forest types, and were distributed throughout the North Andaman Islands. In the 3 forest communities, most species exhibited clumped spatial distribution, while random distribution ranked second. Tree girth class distribution revealed a decreasing number of trees with increasing girth class, indicating natural regeneration of these forest types. The species-area curve clearly reached a plateau at 3-ha area in respect of species number, supporting the adequacy of the large plot size selected in the present investigation. The study recorded a total of 136 tree species in the 3 forest communities and was higher than in many other tropical forest sites. The vegetation analysis of 3-ha plot in 3 different forest types substantially contributed data on North Andaman site potentiality, with reference to its species richness and diversity.

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Island species-area relationships in the Andaman islands emerge because rarer species are disproportionately favored on larger islands

10.1101/857672 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Leana D. Gooriah ◽

Priya Davidar ◽

Jonathan M. Chase

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Random Sampling ◽

Common Species ◽

Sampling Effort ◽

Island Species ◽

Total Species Richness ◽

Species Area ◽

Using Data ◽

Species Richness And Abundance ◽

Total Species

AbstractThe Island Species-Area relationship (ISAR) describes how the number of species increases with increasing size of an island (or island-like habitat), and is of fundamental importance in island biogeography and conservation. Here, we use a framework based on individual-based rarefactions to infer whether ISARs result from random sampling, or whether some process are acting beyond sampling (e.g., disproportionate effects and/or habitat heterogeneity). Using data on total and relative abundances of four taxa (birds, butterflies, amphibians and reptiles) across the Andamans and Nicobar archipelago, we examine how different metrics of biodiversity (total species richness, rarefied species richness, and abundance-weighted effective numbers of species emphasizing common species) vary with island area. Total species richness increased for all taxa, as did rarefied species richness for a given sampling effort. This indicates that the ISAR did not result because of random sampling, but that instead, species were disproportionately favored on larger islands. This disproportionate effect was primarily due to changes in the abundance of rarer species, because there was no effect on the abundance-weighted diversity measure for all taxa except butterflies. Furthermore, for the two taxa for which we had plot-level data (lizards and frogs), within-island β -diversity did not increase with island size, suggesting that heterogeneity effects were unlikely to be driving these ISARS. Overall, our results indicate that the ISAR of these taxa is most likely because rarer species are more likely to survive and persist beyond that which would have been expected by random sampling alone, and emphasizes the role of these larger islands in the preservation and conservation of species.

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Plant Species Richness and Non-Native Invasions in Five Riparian Communities in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

The UW National Parks Service Research Station Annual Reports ◽

10.13001/uwnpsrc.2000.3405 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 24 ◽

pp. 3-19

Author(s):

Heather Marks

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Linear Relationship ◽

Native Species ◽

National Park ◽

Vegetation Type ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Habitat Specificity ◽

Grand Teton National Park ◽

Total Species Richness ◽

Total Species

Non-native species invasions in national parks directly interfere with the major management goal of protecting native biota. The status of species richness and non-native invasions was assessed in five riparian vegetation types in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, with nested-scale number and frequency vegetation data using a ModifiedÂWhittaker sampling design. In the 20 (1OOO-m2 plots sampled, non-native species represented 11.9% (35) of the total 294 species recorded. Non-native species were found in small populations either widely dispersed across the five vegetation types or appearing to have some level of habitat specificity. Total species richness across the five vegetation types varied from 42 species in the sage community to 96 species in the conifer-broadleaf community. Overall, mean species richness across the five communities was 81.9 species/0.1 ha. A suite of environmental variables such as nutrient availability, flood regime, herbivory as well as successional trends may explain the variability in species richness across communities. Patterns of total species richness across multiple scales were fairly consistent. Patterns of non-native species invasion, however, appeared to be both scale and vegetation type dependent. The highest proportion of non-native species for four of the five vegetation types was recorded at the smaller sampling scales. The alder community was the most invaded at all scales measured and had the most distinct assemblage of non-native species. Some studies suggest that community invasibility may be related to species richness. At the 1-m2 and 1000- m2 scales, total species richness and number of non-native species were significantly and positively correlated. When the alder sites were removed from analysis at the 1000- m2 scale, the positive linear relationship increased, and the total variance explained by the linear models was enhanced by 38%. At all scales sampled, the alder sites were highly and disproportionately invaded, often more than twice the level of other communities. The mechanism of nitrogen fixation may be promoting non-native invasions in the alder community. At the vegetation type scale (combined species lists from four 1OOO-m2 plots in each community), those communities with the most unique non-native assemblages were the most invaded. A significant negative linear relationship between nonÂnative species overlap and percentage of non-native species was observed in the alder sites at each scale sampled. This pattern suggests some relationship between properties of an invading species and properties of the community that it invades. Because the results of this study suggest species rich riparian landscapes are vulnerable to non-native invasions, recommendations are offered to assist managers in responding efficiently and effectively to this conservation priority.

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The revision of lichens, lichenicolous and non-lichenized fungi from the Vodlozersky National Park (Republic of Karelia, Russia) in the Herbarium of the Botanical Museum, University of Helsinki

Novosti sistematiki nizshikh rastenii ◽

10.31111/nsnr/2019.53.2.337 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 53 (2) ◽

pp. 337-348

Author(s):

V. N. Tarasova ◽

T. Ahti ◽

O. Vitikainen ◽

A. V. Sonina ◽

L. Myllys

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Common Species ◽

Lichenized Fungi ◽

Herbarium Specimens ◽

Lichenicolous Fungi ◽

Biogeographic Province ◽

Botanical Museum ◽

The Republic ◽

First Time ◽

Lichen Flora

This is a report of a revision of 565 herbarium specimens of lichens, lichenicolous or non-lichenized fungi and additional locality records of common species produced from a visit of the Russian-Finnish expedition to Vodlozersky National Park right after its foundation in 1991. The analyzed collection and field records represent the earliest information about the lichen flora of the territory of the park. In total, 177 species are listed including 173 lichens, 3 non-lichenized and 1 lichenicolous fungi. Xylographa rubescens is new to the Republic of Karelia. Twenty two species are reported for the first time for biogeographic province Karelia transonegensis; 47 species for the Karelian part of Vodlozersky National Park; and 17 species for the whole territory of the park.

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Species richness, distribution pattern, and conservation status of amphibians in Cross River National Park, south‐eastern Nigeria

Biologia ◽

10.1007/s11756-021-00751-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lotanna Micah Nneji ◽

Adeniyi C. Adeola ◽

Babatunde E. Adedeji ◽

Omotoso Olatunde ◽

Abiodun B. Onadeko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Distribution Pattern ◽

National Park ◽

Conservation Status ◽

Cross River ◽

South Eastern

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Light or presence of host trees: which is more important for the strangler fig?

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s0266467499001030 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 15 (5) ◽

pp. 589-602 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Vidya R. Athreya

Keyword(s):

Host Species ◽

National Park ◽

Canopy Cover ◽

Light Level ◽

Southern India ◽

Evergreen Forest ◽

Primary Forest ◽

Light Levels ◽

Host Trees ◽

Main Host

Strangler fig density varied considerably in the evergreen forest of Karian Shola National Park, southern India, with 11 individuals ha−1 in an open trail area and 5.6 individuals ha−1 within the primary forest area. The index of light level was assessed by estimating the percentage of upper canopy cover along the longitudinal centre of ten, 500-m × 20-m plots in each of the two areas of the evergreen forest. However, the increase in strangler fig density was not correlated to light levels but was significantly correlated to the numbers of their main host species in the two areas. In Karian Shola National Park, strangler figs occurred predominantly on a few host species with 20 and 50% of strangler figs growing on Vitex altissima, Diospyros bourdilloni and Eugenia/Syzygium spp. in the primary forest and trail areas respectively. Both young and established strangler figs were recorded mainly on larger individuals of their host trees indicating that older host trees are likely to be more suitable for the germination and establishment of strangler figs. The reason for the above could be the higher incidence of humus-filled and decaying regions in the older host trees which would provide an assured supply of nutrients for the establishing strangler fig.

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