Abstracto

Species diversity and seasonal abundance of acridid (Orthoptera:Acrididae) in a dry deciduous forest of West Bengal, India

Hiroj Kumar Saha, Parimalendu Haldar

The community structure of acridids plays vital role in functioning the forest ecosystem. They are potentially useful bioindicators for conservation planning and land management. Seasonal patterns and species diversity are important components of population structure in acridid community. A total of 25 sites were selected in and around the Chipkuthi forest, West Bengal for studying acridid population in different seasons i.e. (i) Early monsoon- June and July; (ii) Late monsoon-August and September; (iii) EarlyWinter-October and November; (iv) LateWinter-December and January; (v) Spring- February andMarch and (vi) Summer-April andMay. Acridid diversity, abundance and species richness were observed in respect to different seasons. Study of seasonal occurrence and abundance revealed that D.venusta is widely distributed and it occupied the top place representing 23.21% than other species. The higher diversity, higher species richness and higher equitability index of acridids were observed in monsoon season. The highest diversity index and species richness indicate the suitable environment for acridid population. Statistical analysis infers that different species show different behavior and the different seasons also have different effect.