Journal of Bioresource Management Volume 7 Issue 1 Article 3 Insect Diversity and Association with Plants: A Case Study in Rural Areas of Dhirkot, Azad Kashmir Pakistan Abu ul Hassan Faiz Woman University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Bagh, AJK, Pakistan, [email protected] Mehboob ul Hassan Department of Education, University of Punjab, Pakistan Mikhail F. Bagaturov Zoological Institute RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia, [email protected] Majid Mahmood Department of Zoology, University of Poonch Rawalakot, Pakistan Ghazal Tariq Woman University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Bagh, AJK, Pakistan See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/jbm Part of the Biodiversity Commons, Biology Commons, and the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Faiz, A. H., Hassan, M. u., Bagaturov, M. F., Mahmood, M., Tariq, G., & Faiz, L. Z. (2020). Insect Diversity and Association with Plants: A Case Study in Rural Areas of Dhirkot, Azad Kashmir Pakistan, Journal of Bioresource Management, 7 (1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.35691/JBM.0202.0117 ISSN: 2309-3854 online (Received: Jan 20, 2020; Accepted: Jan 31, 2020; Published: Mar 31, 2020) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by CORE Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Bioresource Management by an authorized editor of CORE Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Insect Diversity and Association with Plants: A Case Study in Rural Areas of Dhirkot, Azad Kashmir Pakistan Authors Abu ul Hassan Faiz, Mehboob ul Hassan, Mikhail F. Bagaturov, Majid Mahmood, Ghazal Tariq, and Lariab Zahra Faiz © Copyrights of all the papers published in Journal of Bioresource Management are with its publisher, Center for Bioresource Research (CBR) Islamabad, Pakistan. 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Insect Diversity and Association with Plants J Biores Manag. 7 (1): 21-32 INSECT DIVERSITY AND ASSOCIATION WITH PLANTS: A CASE STUDY IN RURAL AREAS OF DHIRKOT, AZAD KASHMIR PAKISTAN ABU UL HASSAN FAIZ1, MEHBOOB UL HASSAN2, MIKHAIL F BAGATUROV3*, MAJID MAHMOOD4, LARIAB ZAHRA FAIZ1AND GHAZAL TARIQ1 1Department of Zoology, Woman University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Bagh, AJK, Pakistan 2Department of Education, University of Punjab, Pakistan 3Zoological Institute RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia 4Department of Zoology, University of Poonch Rawalakot, Pakistan *Corresponding author: e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Insects play a vital role for proper functioning of forest ecosystem, including positive roles as pollinators, seed dispersers, genetic linkers and detrimental effects by feeding on and/or killing trees. The present study was conducted to find insect association with plants in rural areas of Dhirkot. The study was conducted from March, 2019 to September, 2019. The sampling was carried out by line transect method. Thirty transects were taken for sampling insects. Sixty-five species of insects in association with 150 plants were recorded. Keywords: Insect, predator, carnivore, diversity, plants INTRODUCTION and insect populations and concluded that environments where fires have been curbed, The forest ecosystem is facing a tend to have a greater insect activity. number of challenges such as anthropogenic Previous studies on class insecta pressures (wood-cutting, urbanization and from Azad Jammu and Kashmir include land-use change), climatic changes, studies on butterflies (Faiz et al., 2015), on environmental issues, invasive pest and insect biodiversity in District Rawalakot, forest management that disturb forest health AJK (Faiz et al., 2018), on moths (Faiz et al., and/or structure and affect primary 2019) but the present study is designed to find productivity (FAO, 2005). Insects play a vital association of insects with plants. The present role for proper functioning of forest study provides baseline data about insect ecosystem, including positive roles as association with plants in rural areas of pollinators, seed dispersers, genetic linkers Dhirkot, AJK. and detrimental effects by feeding on and/or killing trees. Thereby, increasing net primary MATERIAL AND METHODS productivity of a forest by their activity (Mattson and Addy, 1975). Study Area The vegetation of an area provides Dhirkot is a mountainous landscape an ecosystem to insects and hence, factors and tehsil head quarter of district Bagh, that affect diversity and density of vegetation, Jammu and Kashmir. It is located towards affect the population of insects. The southeast of Muzaffarabad and has Islamabad interaction between forest fires and insect to its west. The vegetation of the study area pest outbreaks has been researched on for varies from subtropical humid to moist quite a while now. Parker et al. (2006) temperate coniferous forest. Most of the flora reviewed the interaction between forest fires 21 Faiz et al. (2020). Insect Diversity and Association with Plants J Biores Manag. 7 (1): 21-32 present includes Pinus roxburghii (Chir Pine) paths at a distance of one km. The sampling and Pinus wallachiana (Blue Pine) with was conducted from 7.00 am to 11.00 am. variety of herbs, shrubs, grasses and mosses. Specimens were collected through insect net and kept in ethyl acetate bottle and shifted to Sample Collection insect box. The collected insects were identified by following keys (Roberts, 2001). The insect sampling was conducted For rare species of insects opportunistic by quadrat method in different vegetation sampling in rare habitats was conducted. types. Quadrats were taken on patrolling RESULTS Table 1. List of pest species with their host plants # Family Species name Host Plants 1. Lasiocamidae Malacosoma disstria Anacardiacea, Annonaceae, (Forest tent caterpillar) Barringtoniaceae, Bischofiaceae, Casuarinaceae 2. Crambidae Scoparia ambigualis licorice weed, sweet broom, vassourinha (Grass moth) 3. Pterophoridae Gillmeria albertae Antirrhinum majus, Pelargonium x (Plume moth) hortorum Lantanophaga pusillidactyla, Ageratina riparia 4. Tipulidae Tipulidae sp. Ornamental plants (Crane fly) 5. Erebidae Dysgonia sp. Dionaea muscipula, Aldrovanda vesiculosa 6. Chrysopidae Chrysopidae sp. Solanaceae, Utricularia Drosera, Dionaea (Green Lacewings) muscipula, Zea mays 7. Pleciidae Nearctica plecia Cereal crops, Solanaceae, apple blossoms, (Love bug) honey locust trees, potato 8. Chrysomelidae Lilioceris lilii Blueberry, Wasps, Polistes Carolina (Scarlet lily beetle) 9. Amorphoscelidae Gyromantis Kraussi Sunflower, Sorghum, sudan grass, corn, (Bark mantis) barley 10. Uraniidae Urania leilus Omphalea (Green banded Urania) 11. Meliodae Lytta aenea Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae, Leguminosae (Blister beetles) 12. Blattodae Blattella germanica Sugar beets, potatoes (German cockroach) 13. Papilionidae Papilionidae sp. Aristolochiaceae, Annonaceae, Lauraceae, (Swallowtail butterflies) Rutaceae, Umbelliferae 14. Miridae Miridae Sp. herbaceous plants, vegetable crops, flower (plant bug) plants, fruit trees 15. Pieridae Colias croceus Ginger, turmeric (Clouded yellow butterfly) 16. Lympyridae Arachnocampa Luminosa Midges, Mayflies, Caddish flies, (Glow worm) Mosquitoes, Moth. 17. Sphingidae Bombycoidea sp. Soybean (Hawk moth) 18. Sesiidae Melitta sp. Lotus, Coronilla, Hippocrepis, Onobrychis, (Wasp moth) Prunus spinosa 22 Faiz et al. (2020). Insect Diversity and Association with Plants J Biores Manag. 7 (1): 21-32 19. Araneidae Neoscona Crucifera Trypargilum politum (Barn spider) 20. Nymphalidae Junonia orithya Annona senegalensis, Antirrhinum majus, (Blue Pansy) Asystasia gangetica, Asystasia scandens, Buchnera linearis, Acanthaceae, Annonaceae, Labiatae, Plantaginaceae, Buchnera linearis 21. Crambidae Diaphania hyalinata Cucurbita species, Cucumber, gerkin, (Melon worm) cantaloupe 22. Coreidae Leptoglossus occidentalis Apocynaceae, Jimson weed, Oleander (Western conifer seed bug) 23. Erebidae Gynaephora selenitica Lotus, Coronilla, Hippocrepis, Onobrychis, (Larch tussock moth) Prunus spinosa 24. Limacodidae Apoda limacodes Oak, black cherry. (Caterpillar slug moth) 25. Nymphalidae Nymphalidae sp. tree sap, Rotting fruits (Brush footed butterflies) 26. Pentatomidae Acanthosoma labiduroides Hordeum vulgare, Cajanus cajan, Brassica (Southern green stink bug) nigra, Glycine max, Cucurbitaceae. 27. Lycidae Calopteron reticulatum Mites, Small insects (Reticulated net winged beetle) 28. Pentatomidae Halyomorphahalys Soybean, Spider flower (Stink bug) 29. Alydidae Alydus calcaratus Blackjack Oaks (True bug) 30. Cicadellidae Cicadellidae sp. Grasses seeds (Leaf hoppers) 31. Cerambycidae Cerambycidae sp. Dioscorea bulbifera Long-horned beetle 32. Coccinellidae Harmonia axyridis Fruits (Asian lady beetle) 33. Vespidae Vespula germanica