ISSN : 2663-2187

Epigaeic invertebrate communities of the Albany Thicket Biome, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa: Implications for conservation management

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Augustine Niba, Memani Sanky
ยป doi: 10.48047/AFJBS.6.12.2024.2208-2243

Abstract

A total of 1993 individuals were collected from both riny/wet and Cold dry seasns, out of which 340 species were sorted from 854 individuals were from the Wet/rainy season. The thicket patch with the Open Mixed and low Vegetation site had the highest species richness (S = 48) followed by the Patch with no undergrowth (S= 37), the Patch with grazed undergrowth (S = 34) and the lowest species rich was the Ticket patch with the lowest richness (S =29). The patch with the highest species abundance (N= 408) was the Open Mixed and low vegetation site, followed by followed by the Thicket Patch with Highly Grazed undergrowth (N= 179), and the Thicket patch with grazed undergrowth was (N= 118). The Araneae was the most abundant order, followed by Orthoptera (84), Hymenoptera (61) and then the Coleoptera (50). Araneae had the most abundant species, followed by Orthoptera (84), Hymenoptera (61) and lastly Coleoptera (50). Members of these invertebrate orders were present across all four sites. Certain measured environmental variables accounted for species composition and distribution patterns across site sampling units e.g. leaf litter, pH, vegetation cover % bare ground, and soil chemical properties (e.g. Mg, Ca, K, and Zn). Species richness and abundance of different arthropod taxa are influenced by seasonal changes differently, and this may be due to the different dependencies on plants and intrinsic life history traits of the subgroup of each invertebrate taxon.

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