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The Effects of Socotra Cormorant Nesting Activities on Terrestrial Invertebrates Diversity and Abundance

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The Effects of Socotra Cormorant Nesting Activities on Terrestrial Invertebrates Diversity and Abundance United Arab Emirates University Scholarworks@UAEU Biology Theses Biology 4-2019 The Effects of Socotra Cormorant Nesting Activities on Terrestrial Invertebrates Diversity and Abundance Hiba Obaid Darwish Alshehhi Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/bio_theses Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Alshehhi, Hiba Obaid Darwish, "The Effects of Socotra Cormorant Nesting Activities on Terrestrial Invertebrates Diversity and Abundance" (2019). Biology Theses. 26. https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/bio_theses/26 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Biology at Scholarworks@UAEU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Biology Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarworks@UAEU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. iii Copyright Copyright © 2019 Hiba Obaid Darwish Alshehhi All Rights Reserved iv Advisory Committee 1) Advisor: Dr. Sabir Bin Muzaffar Title: Associate Professor Department of Biology College of Science 2) Co-advisor: Prof. Taoufik Ksksi Title: Professor Department of Biology College of Science vii Abstract Seabirds breed on off-shore islands or cliffs often in large aggregations during their 2- 6 month breeding seasons. During this period, seabirds perform an important role in the allochthonous transport of marine nutrients into these terrestrial environments. Depending on the size and density of these aggregations, the impact could be alteration of soil chemistry, vegetation or invertebrate diversity and distribution patterns, primarily through the deposition of large quantities of guano. We studied the impact of breeding aggregations of the Socotra Cormorants (Phalacrocorax nigrogularis) on Siniya Island, Umm Al Quwain, United Arab Emirates, typically ranging between 26,000 to 41,000 breeding pairs. We set up artificial substrate traps along grids in eight areas. These areas were chosen based on whether nesting had occurred in 2016 (nesting areas) or not (non-nesting areas). Traps were deployed in the environment and then removed, specimens preserved and invertebrates identified later. Generally, species richness and diversity is affected negatively in areas that were nested, indicating that some species or taxonomic groups were negatively affected. Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Isopoda decreased in abundance in areas used for nesting, indicating that selected species within these taxa could not tolerate high levels of nutrient input from guano. The number of ticks (Ornithodoros muesebecki, Acari), a species that is known to parasitize seabirds in the Arabian Gulf, increased overall, particularly in areas that were not used for nesting. Deposition of guano is known to strongly influence vegetation and associated invertebrate communities, often having long-term consequences on island biota. This study shows that insect and other invertebrate communities are impacted by Socotra Cormorant presence during the breeding season, thereby helping to shape the terrestrial communities over the long term. Further work is needed to better understand these interactions and determine how long-term changes could occur in such arid ecosystems. Keywords: Socotra Cormorant, Phalacrocorax nigrogularis, Terrestrial invertebrates, nesting, community structure. viii Title and Abstract (in Arabic) آثار أنشطة التعشيش للغاق السوقطري على التنوع الﻻفقاري اﻷرضي ووفرته الملخص تتكاثر الطيور البحرية في الجزر أو المنحدرات الشاطئية في تجمعات كبيرة غالبًا خﻻل مواسم تكاثرها التي تتراوح من 2 إلى 6 أشهر. خﻻل هذه الفترة، تؤدي الطيور البحرية دو ًرا مه ًما في نقل المغذيات البحرية المتراصة إلى هذه البيئات اﻷرضية. اعتمادًا على حجم وكثافة هذه المجموعات، قد يكون التأثير هو تغيير كيمياء التربة أو الغطاء النباتي أو تنوع الﻻفقاريات وأنماط التوزيع، وذلك بشكل أساسي من خﻻل ترسيب كميات كبيرة من ذرق الطائر. درسنا تأثير تجمعات سﻻﻻت الغاق ) Phalacrocorax nigrogularis( على جزيرة السنية، أم القيوين، اﻹمارات العربية المتحدة، والتي تتراوح عادة بين 26000 إلى 41000 زوج تكاثر. أنشأنا مصائد الركيزة اﻻصطناعية على طول الشبكات في ثمانية مجاﻻت. تم اختيار هذه المناطق استنادًا إلى ما إذا كان التعشيش قد حدث في عام 2016 )مناطق التعشيش( أم ﻻ )مناطق غير التعشيش(. تم نشر الفخاخ في البيئة ثم إزالتها والعينات المحفوظة والﻻفقاريات التي تم تحديدها ﻻحقًا. بشكل عام، يتأثر ثراء اﻷنواع وتنوعها سلبًا في المناطق التي تم تداخلها، مما يشير إلى أن بعض اﻷنواع أو المجموعات التصنيفية تأثرت سلبًا. انخفض )Hymenopteraو Isopoda ( بكثرة في المناطق المستخدمة في التعشيش ، مما يشير إلى أن اﻷنواع المختارة ضمن هذه اﻷصناف ﻻ يمكنها تحمل مستويات عالية من مدخﻻت المغذيات من ذرق الطائر. زاد عدد القراد )Ornithodoros muesebecki، (Acari، وهو نوع معروف بتطفل الطيور البحرية في الخليج العربي ، بشكل عام ، ﻻ سيما في المناطق التي لم تستخدم في التعشيش. من المعروف أن ترسب ذرق الطائر يؤثر بشدة على الغطاء النباتي ومجتمعات الﻻفقاريات المرتبطة به، وغالبًا ما يكون له عواقب طويلة المدى على الكائنات الحية في الجزيرة. توضح هذه الدراسة أن الحشرات وغيرها من مجتمعات الﻻفقاريات تتأثر بحضور Socotra Cormorant خﻻل موسم التكاثر، مما يساعد على تشكيل المجتمعات اﻷرضية على المدى الطويل. هناك حاجة إلى مزيد من العمل لفهم هذه التفاعﻻت بشكل أفضل وتحديد كيفية حدوث تغييرات طويلة اﻷجل في مثل هذه النظم البيئية القاحلة. مفاهيم البحث الرئيسية: الغاق السوقطري ، الﻻفقاريات البرية ، التعشيش ، هيكلة المجتمعات. ix Acknowledgments Permission for the study to be conducted at Siniya island was granted by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of climate change and environment. I thank Roxanne Whelan and Chris Clarke for deploying and collecting substrate samples in the field. I thank my supervisor, Dr. Sabir Bin Muzaffar for his constant support and guidance. I would like to thank the Department of Biology at the United Arab Emirates University for assisting me all over my studies and research. I would also like to thank the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment for their support throughout my study. Special thanks goes to the members of the biodiversity department for their continuous support and encouragement. x Dedication To my parent, brothers, sisters and friends xi Table of Contents Title ............................................................................................................................... i Declaration of Original Work ...................................................................................... ii Copyright .................................................................................................................... iii Advisory Committee ................................................................................................... iv Approval of the Master Thesis ..................................................................................... v Abstract ...................................................................................................................... vii Title and Abstract (in Arabic) ................................................................................... viii Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... ix Dedication .................................................................................................................... x Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ xi List of Tables.............................................................................................................. xii List of Figures ........................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Overview .................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................... 1 1.3 Relevant Literature ..................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Methods .................................................................................................... 15 2.1 Study Area ................................................................................................ 15 2.2 Study Design ............................................................................................ 16 2.3 Processing of Samples ............................................................................. 20 2.4 Calculation of Indices and Statistical Analyses ....................................... 21 Chapter 3: Results ...................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 4: Discussion ................................................................................................ 37 4.1 Summary and Conclusions ....................................................................... 41 References .................................................................................................................. 42 xii List of Tables Table 1: List of the main specimens found in the samples ........................................ 26 Table 2: Number of specimens .................................................................................. 28 Table 3: Number of Isopoda specimens found. ......................................................... 30 Table 4: Number of Ornithodoros muesebecki specimens found .............................. 32 Table 5: Number of Hymenopterans specimens found .............................................. 34 Table
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