Insect Species Diversity and Abundance in and around Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi Forestry Nursery, Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

With the rapid increase in human population, there has been concomitant increase in anthropogenic activities helping to rise to habitat modification. The change in habitat composition and seasonal variations affect the population of insects. The aim of the study therefore, was to investigate the insect species diversity and abundance in and around the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi Forestry Nursery with the view to ensuring healthy seedling production. Line transects were used to survey the three habitats within and around the forestry nursery using handheld sweep nets and pitfall traps from August 2016 to February 2017. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance and composition was estimated using diversity indices. A checklist was made comprising a total number of 810 individuals from 8 Orders 25 Families and 50 species were recorded across the three habitats. Out of these, members belonging to order Hemiptera were the most dominant (35.8%) according to number of individuals, followed by Lepidoptera (16.91%), and the least were Coleoptera (2.72%) and Dictyoptera (2.60%) respectively. The major insect pest encountered in the nursery was mealybugs. The Swampy part of the Nursery and the URF had similar species composition. Species diversity, evenness and richness varied from habitat to habitat. However there was no significant difference in species composition/richness across the habitat types at 0.05% level of significance. Therefore it was recommended that, measures should be taken to control insect pest infestation in the nursery to ensure healthy production of seedlings.