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Volume-10, Issue-1, 2020/21 ISSN 2091-2854 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENT Volume-10, Issue-1, 2020/21 ISSN 2091-2854 Received: 17 May 2021 Revised: 20 June 2021 Accepted: 26 June 2021 WATER BEETLES: SPECIES DIVERSITY AND RESPONSE TO PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS IN DIFFERENT FRESHWATER HABITATS IN SAMTSE, BHUTAN Tez Bdr Ghalley1, Ugyen Dorji2 *, Cheten Dorji2, Arjun Nepal2 and Namgay Shacha1 1Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary, Department of Forests and Park Services, Royal Government of Bhutan 2Department of Forest Science, College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan *Corresponding author: [email protected] Abstract Bhutan is located between the two zoogeographic regions which are assumed to be rich in diversity of water beetles. The study aimed to determine the diversity and distribution pattern of water beetles in different freshwater habitats in Namgaychholing under Samtse district, Bhutan. The study also analysed the association of water beetles with the physico-chemical parameters. The data were collected from four different habitats with sample plot of 3 m × 1 m for a standard time of 1 hour in every plot. A total of 30 species belonging to 7 families were recorded of which Dytiscidae (n=626, RA=51) was the most abundant family and Lacconectus basalis (n=416, RA=34.13) was the most abundant species. The overall Shannon diversity index of the study area was H ′=2.48. Amongst the different habitats, marshy area had the highest Shannon diversity index (H ′=2.45) and stream had the lowest (H ′=1.82). A Kruskal Wallis test on diversity among different habitats showed no significant difference (p<.05). Through a cluster analysis, the species composition between the river and waterlogged showed 100% similarity index. Canonical correspondence analysis showed temperature as a main determining factor affecting the distribution of water beetles. With broad families encompassing the water beetles, similar study on water beetles in different regions of the country is recommended with particular emphasis on different families. Moreover, Bhutan falls in junction of Palearctic and Oriental Zoogeographic regions, which are known to be rich in diversity of water beetles. Hence, study in high-altitude lakes, which are assumed to be rich in diversity of water beetles are recommended despite social beliefs to keep lakes isolated and undisturbed. Keywords: Marshy area; pH; Temperature; Water beetles DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v10i1.38404 Copyright ©2021 IJE This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited and is not for commercial purposes International Journal of Environment ISSN 2091-2854 64 | P a g e Introduction Coleoptera is the largest order under the class Insecta (Jach and Balke, 2008). The aquatic beetles are found to inhabit in almost all kinds of aquatic habitats such as rivers, springs, lakes, ditches, puddles, phytotelma, seepages and ground water. They are known to survive even when trapped in ice and high saline water (Gerdes et al., 1985). Beetles occur on all continents except Antarctica. Water beetles are found in all biogeographic regions and the highest diversity is found in the tropics. The smallest water beetles is less than 1 mm and the largest ones are more than 5 cm long. (Jack and Balke, 2008).Water beetles can either be herbivores, predators, or scavengers (Epler, 1996). Water quality plays a key role in species richness of aquatic beetles; therefore, they could be considered as an indicator organism for ecosystem health of freshwater (Dong et al., 2014; Ghannem et al., 2018). The main physico-chemical factors that affect aquatic environments are temperature, discharge, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, nutrients and electrical conductivity (Ngodhe et. al., 2014). There are decrease in trends for species richness, total abundance and diversity in water bodies affected by high values for chemical parameters in the water (Prenda and Gallardo-Mayenco 1996; Heino 2000). Around the world, freshwater habitats are being subjected to increased levels of human disturbance (Saunders et al., 2002). Globally, of all the inland water ecosystems, the most threatened river catchments are found in the Indian subcontinent (World Conservation Monitoring Centre [WCMC], 2000). In general, water beetle communities all around the world suffer from desertification, irrigation, eutrophication induced by livestock, man, and agriculture, as well as overall loss of primary habitats (Jach and Balke, 2008). Water beetles in Himalayas is not much explored and the distribution of certain dytiscid genera in the Himalayas is still very incomplete (Brancucci and Wewelka, 2005). Bhutan is still regarded as one of the least explored countries in terms of aquatic entomology. Namgaychholing Gewog (block) under Samtse Dzongkhag (district) has a rich freshwater ecosystem encompassing different elevational gradient. Conversely, the study area is expected to have a high diversity of water beetles distributed across different habitats. This study aims to analyse the diversity and distribution of water beetles in different freshwater habitats and their response to physico-chemical parameters. The study will augment the scientific exploration in beetle diversity in Bhutan and especially, it will spearhead to form the baseline data for the water beetles in Bhutan as this is the first of its kind in the country. International Journal of Environment ISSN 2091-2854 65 | P a g e Materials and methods Study area Namgaychholing Gewog (88°57'57.935"E and 27°5'33.421"N) is located in Samtse Dzongkhag to the North- West of Dzongkhag headquarter. It covers around 128.49 square kilometers of area (Dzongkhag Administration Samtse, 2018). The Gewog experiences annual rainfall ranging from 1200 mm to 3000 mm. The Gewog has hot and humid summer, dry and cool winter with snowfall in the northern part of Gewog and falls in sub-tropical monsoon zone. The Gewog has red, alluvial and black types of soil. Namgaychholing Gewog consist of five Chiwogs (village) (Dzongkhag Administration Samtse, 2018). Figure 1: Map showing the study area under Samtse Dzongkhag. Research Design Sampling The sampling were carried out following stratified random sampling with equal proportion (Williams et al., 2007). Water beetles were collected from four different habitats (rivers, streams, water logged areas and marshy areas) of the gewog. Ten sample sites were selected from each habitat. Therefore, from four different habitat the total sampling site was 40 from different areas. The sampling unit for each habitat were selected through reconnaissance survey. In each sample site 1 hour was set as a standard time, including time spent sweeping and removing the debris and unwanted insects (Turic et al., 2017). The sample size of 3m × 1 m International Journal of Environment ISSN 2091-2854 66 | P a g e was adopted following Turic et al. (2017). Data collection was done during the pre-monsoon season before the water beetles were not affected by the monsoon vagaries. Data collection Water net and household sieve of various pore size was used to collect the specimens (Turner, 2007; Boukal et al., 2007). In rivers, streams and water-logged areas, s kicking, brushing and rubbing the surface and then gently sweeping with the water net was done to collect the water beetles. The small water beetles that were seen floating on the surface of the water were collected by gently sweeping the surface with household sieve. The sampling techniques followed Lhundup and Dorji (2018).If the habitats were covered with woody debris and leaf litter, it was disturbed with poles and leg, and was swept with water net. The collected samples were washed thoroughly into the net and the water beetles were picked with forceps. In greater depth of water, it was disturbed with the help of poles. This was done to make sure that the water beetles that were inside the sand and soil are mixed with water and brought on the surface. In marshy areas with minimum water, it was disturbed with the sticks and household sieve was used to collect the specimens. Measurement of physico-chemical parameters All three physico-chemical parameters were measured in the field. The pH meter was used to measure water pH and pen type DO2 meter to measure both water temperature and DO at every sampling unit before sampling. Fixation, preservation and identification The specimens were fixed using 10% formalin and preserved in 70% ethanol (Gaston et al., 1996). Specimens which could be identified on the field were recorded, photographed and released back to their natural habitats. The collected samples were identified later in the laboratory using microscope, identification keys, monographs and assistance from taxonomic expert. Data analysis The species diversity was analysed using Shannon’s Diversity Index. The taxon richness was computed using R = (S-1) / Log N (Wilson, 1992) and Evenness using Pielou evenness formula E= H′ / Hmax (McGinley, 2014). Berger-Parker’s Dominance index (Das and Gupta, 2010) was used to find the dominance in a habitat. Relative abundance (Purkayastha and Gupta, 2012) was calculated for individual family and species. Kruskal Wallis test was done using R studio to compare the variations in diversity, richness and abundance among different habitats. Cluster analysis was done between four different habitats with their relative abundance (RA) using PC-ORD. International Journal of Environment ISSN 2091-2854 67 | P a g e The Pearson’s correlation was usedto find
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