Diversity and Assemblages of Canopy and Ground Layer Beetles in the Forests of Chitwan National Park, Nepal
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DIVERSITY AND ASSEMBLAGES OF CANOPY AND GROUND LAYER BEETLES IN THE FORESTS OF CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK, NEPAL Pradip Subedi T.U. Registration No: 5-1-19-66-2006 T.U. Examination Roll No: 34/070 Batch: 2070/071 A Thesis submitted In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master’s of Science in Zoology with special paper Entomology Submitted to Central Department of Zoology Institute of Science and Technology Tribhuvan University Kirtipur, Kathmandu November, 2017 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis entitled “Diversity and Assemblages of Canopy and Ground Layer Beetles in the Forests of Chitwan National Park, Nepal” has been done by myself, and has not been submitted elsewhere for the award of any degree. All the sources of information have been specifically acknowledged by reference to the author (s) or institution (s). Date: …………................. ….…...…………………. Pradip Subedi [email protected] i om RECOMMENDATION This is to recommend that the thesis entitled “Diversity and Assemblages of Canopy and Ground Layer Beetles in the Forests of Chitwan National Park, Nepal” has been carried out by Mr. Pradip Subedi for the partial fulfillment of Master‟s Degree of science in Zoology with special paper Entomology. This is his original work and has been carried out under my supervision. To the best of my knowledge, this work has not been submitted for any other degree in any institutions. Date……………………………. …………………………… Supervisor Mr. Indra Prasad Subedi Lecturer Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal ii LETTER OF APPROVAL On the recommendation of supervisor Mr. Indra Prasad Subedi, Lecturer Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan University, this thesis entitled “Diversity and Assemblages of Canopy and Ground Layer Beetles in the Forests of Chitwan National Park, Nepal” is approved for the examination and submitted to the Tribhuvan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master‟s Degree of Science in Zoology with special paper Entomology. Date: ……………………. ……………………………………… Prof. Dr. Ranjana Gupta Head of Department Central Department of Zoology Tribhuvan University Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal iii CERTIFICATE OF ACCEPTANCE This thesis work submitted by Mr. Pradip Subedi entitled “Diversity and Assemblages of Canopy and Ground Layer Beetles in the Forests of Chitwan National Park, Nepal” has been accepted as a partial fulfillment for the requirements of Master‟s Degree of Science in Zoology with special paper Entomology. EVALUATION COMMITTEE …………………………. ………………………… (Supervisor) (Head of Department) Indra Prasad Subedi Prof. Dr. Ranjana Gupta Lecturer Central Department of Zoology Central Department of Zoology Tribhuvan University Tribhuvan University Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal …………………………... …………………………...... External Examiner Internal Examiner Date of Examination: …………… iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is my pleasure to express my sincere gratitude to my respected supervisor Indra Prasad Subedi, Lecturer, Central Department of Zoology for his constant supervision, valuable guidance, encouragement and constructive criticisms in carrying out this research work. I am equally grateful to Prof. Dr. Ranjana Gupta, Head of Central Department of Zoology, for her cooperation and support to carry out this dissertation work. Thanks are also dues to all the teachers and staff of Central Department of Zoology for their supports and encouragements. I am thankful to Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation and Chitwan National Park to allow me to research in the National park. Specially thanks goes to Mr. Kabindra Regmi (staff of Chitwan National Park), for his immense help in the arrangement of the security staffs. I owe a special debt of gratitude to all of the security personnel for providing security for us and of our traps as well. I would like to extend my special thanks to Mrs. Urmila Dyola, Lecturer, and Central Department for her help in field as well as laboratory and kind suggestions for completeness of this work. I thankfully acknowledge the pain taking efforts of Mr. Pujan Prasad Adhikari and Mr. Prakash Gaudel who had helped in setting traps in the study area. I consider it great pleasure to offer my sincere thanks to the scientists from the world , Enrico Ruzzier (Natural History Museum, London), Dr. Arthur V. Evans (Entomologist of Virginia), Azaz Ahmed (University of Agriculture, Peshawar), Riccardo Skiaky (University of Milan, Entomologist),, Seena Narayanan (Senior Research Associate, Assistant Museum Curator), Stefano Ziani (University of Nebraska State Museum), Poorani Janakiraman (Indian council of Agricultural Research, National Research Centre of Banana New Delhi, India), Jennifer Cristina Girón Duque (Doctoral aspirant), Dr. Michael Geiser (Natural History Museum, London), Westerdujin Rob (University of São Paulo), Antonio Santos-Silva (University of São Paulo), Robert L. Otto (University of Wisconsin-Madison),Wataro Suzuki (Entomologist), Rudolf Schuh (Natural History Museum, Vienna) for their help in identification of specimens. I consider glad to express thanks to Jari Oksanen (University of Oulu, Department of Biology) who cleared my confusion regarding data analysis. Finally I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for providing thesis grant for the completion of this work. Pradip Subedi Examination Roll No.: 34/070 Batch No: 070/071 Date of Examination v CONTENTS DECLARATION .................................................................................................................. i RECOMMENDATION ....................................................................................................... ii LETTER OF APPROVAL ................................................................................................ iii CERTIFICATE OF ACCEPTANCE .................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGS .................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ xii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... xiii 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Beetles ................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Canopy layer and Ground layer ............................................................................ 1 1.3 Shorea robusta and Dalbergia sissoo ................................................................... 2 1.4 Research Objectives .............................................................................................. 3 1.4.1 General objective ........................................................................................... 3 1.4.2 Specific objectives ......................................................................................... 3 1.5 Siginifance of the study ......................................................................................... 3 1.6 Limitation .............................................................................................................. 5 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 6 3 MATERIALS AND METHODS ............................................................................... 12 3.1 Study area ............................................................................................................ 12 3.1.1 Climate ......................................................................................................... 13 3.2 Materials used ..................................................................................................... 15 3.2.1 Canopy trap .................................................................................................. 15 3.2.2 Pitfall trap ..................................................................................................... 15 3.2.3 Ethylene glycol, unscented detergent and ethanol ....................................... 15 3.2.4 Global Positioning System (GPS) ................................................................ 15 3.2.5 Measuring tape ............................................................................................. 15 3.2.6 Rope ............................................................................................................. 15 3.2.7 Collection Jars .............................................................................................. 15 3.2.8 Magnifying glass and Microscope ............................................................... 16 3.2.9 Camera ......................................................................................................... 16 vi 3.3 Study design ........................................................................................................ 16 3.4 Data collection ....................................................................................................