Insect pollinator diversity in four forested ecosystems of southern Punjab, Pakistan

Muhammad Amjad Bashir; Shafqat Saeed; Asif Sajjad; Khalid Ali Khan; Hamed Ali Ghramh; Muhammad Ahmed Shehzad; Hussani Mubarak; Nosheen Mirza; Shahzadi Mahpara; Muhammad Ishaq Asif Rehmani; Mohammad Javed Ansari

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2018.02.007

Insect pollinator diversity in four forested ecosystems of southern Punjab, Pakistan

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2019 Nov;26(7):1835-1842. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2018.02.007. Epub 2018 Feb 13.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, 32200 Punjab, Pakistan.
² Department of Entomology, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan.
³ Department of Entomology, University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan.
⁴ Unit of Bee Research and Honey Production, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, P.O. Box 9004, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Research Center for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, Abha 61413, P.O. Box 9004, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Statistics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.
⁷ Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, 32200 Punjab, Pakistan.
⁸ Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China.
⁹ Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan.
¹⁰ Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, 32200 Punjab, Pakistan.
¹¹ Department of Agronomy, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, 32200 Punjab, Pakistan.
¹² Department of Botany, Hindu College Moradabad, 244001, India.
¹³ Bee Research Chair, Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, PO Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

This study investigated pollinator assemblage diversity and richness in four forested ecosystems of southern Punjab, Pakistan, with different landscape types. Pirowal is situated in the plains of irrigated Punjab, Lal Suhanra is part of a sandy desert ecosystem, Ghazi Ghat is part of the Indus River delta, and Fort Munro is located in dry hilly mountains. A yearlong survey of pollinator populations was carried out in these four forested ecosystems from January to December of 2010. Fortnightly hand netting was performed for collecting flower-visiting insects whereas, pan traps of three colors (white, blue, and yellow) were deployed for collecting the data. A total of 8,812 individuals from two orders (Lepidoptera and Diptera) were observed, including 22 families and 154 species. Bees were the most abundant, with 4,502 individuals, and the most species-rich taxa, with 70 species in five families, followed by flies having 2,509 individuals and 51species in 10 families. Wasps were the least abundant with 1,801 individuals and 33 species in seven families. The assemblage structure of pollinator communities as visualized through rank abundance curves showed that there were many species with low abundance and only a few species with a much higher abundance. The most abundant species among the bees, in order, were Nomia sp.3, Megachile bicolor, and Colletes sp.3; among flies, Syrphus sp.2, Calliphoridae sp.1, and Empididae sp.4; and among wasps, Tiphiidae sp.1, Myzininae sp.2, and Scelionidae sp.1.

Keywords: Bees; Diptera; Diversity; Ecosystem; Flies; Hymenoptera; Insect pollinators; Wasps.