Abundance and Diversity of Soil Macroarthropods in Qena Governorate, Upper Egypt

Abstract

Soil arthropods represent a wide range of ecological functions, and their abundance and diversity can be used as an indicator of healthy soils. Thus, the species composition of soil macroarthropods at six different localities in Qena Governorate was carried out during one year extended from March 2021 to February 2022. The sites of collection differ in their soil structure, environmental factors and vegetation. The study revealed that the total number of soil macroarthropods collected was (7854 individuals) and could be attributed to four different classes (Insecta, Crustacea, Arachnida and Chilopoda), 13 orders, 36 families, 54 genera, 45 species and 3 unidentified taxa. The highest value of total abundance of macroarthropods was registered during spring and the lowest was in winter. Site IV (El-Taramsa) recorded the highest density of the collected specimens (3097 individuals), while the lowest value (392 indvs.) was recorded at site I (Nag Hammadi). Insecta was the dominant group; it represented about 63.13% of the total density followed by Crustacea (31.41%), Arachnida (5.20%) and Chilopoda (0.26 %). Taxa richness reached the highest peak (38 taxa) at sites III (SVU farm) and IV (El-Taramsa), while the lowest peak (20 taxa) was detected at site VI (Laqita). Shannon-Wiener's diversity index ranged between (1.328) at site VI and (2.393) at site III.