Determining diversity and abundance of terrestrial insect species in farmland and settled area of Busitema university, Nagongera campus, Tororo, Uganda.

Abstract

A field survey was conducted in Farmland and Settled area of Nagongera Campus Busitema with the aim assessing the diversity and abundance of terrestrial insect species. Sampling was done after three days using pitfall, sweep net and quadrat. Insects collected were killed using 70% ethanol before pinning and dried in a cage. Representative samples were taken to the Biology laboratory for pinning and identification. A total of 399 insects spread across 10 orders and 20 families and were collected. The most dominant order was Orthoptera with a relative abundance of (27.32%) and, the least was Lepidoptera (0.50%). The most dominant insect family were Tetrigidae (17.54%) followed by Termitidae (16.54%) and Formicidae (10.78%). Families such as Pieridae and Nymphalidae (0.25%) each, Blattidae (0.75%) and Forficudidae (1.75%) had a small relative abundance. Species richness is based on number of individual insects measured. The highest species diversity was observed in the order Orthoptera (Shanon H’= 1.498) while, order Lepidoptera, Dictyoptera and Darmaptera have the least (H’= 0). However, the habitat with the highest species evenness was observed in the farmland (18.434). The geographical scope of the area needs to be expanded, and also the duration of the study.