Aquatic insect communities in different types of land use in and around the streams of Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia

• Main Author: Wong, Andrew Bak Hui
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: QL461-599.82 Insects
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/42653/1/ABSTRACT.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/42653/2/FULLTEXT.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/42653/

The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of land use on aquatic insect communities on streams in and around Kinabalu Park. Six sampling stations located in forest area, housing area and agricultural area were selected. Aquatic insects were sampled with Surber net from June 2012 to January 2013. Total abundance, taxa richness, diversity indices and biotic indices were calculated. Difference between sampling stations and sampling occasions were tested with Kruskal-Wallis Test. Aquatic insect composition and distribution was analyzed with cluster analysis. In addition, multiple linear regression was used to relate the aquatic insect abundance and richness against environmental variables. Aquatic insect collection in this study yielded 11694 individuals, nine orders, 50 families and 71 genera. Ephemeroptera was the most abundant order (26.16%) while Stenelmis spp. (10%) was the most abundant taxa. Kruskal-Wallis test showed significant differences (p<0.05) between sampling stations for abundance, richness, Simpson’s diversity, Shannon’s diversity, EPT index, and BMWP index. No significant difference shown between sampling occasions. Cluster analyses resulted in two groups: first group consisted of Housing Area Station 2 (H2) and Agricultural Area Station (A1); second group formed by Forest Area Station 2 (A2) and both Forest Area Stations (F1 and F2). Based on the water parameters, most of the stations were classified as Class I. Assessment based on biotic indices showed most stations were not impacted, except for H1 stations with low EPT taxa (seven families) and the absent of order Plecoptera. Regression results showed that water temperature, current velocity, stream width and depth were the most influential variables on aquatic insect abundance and richness.