Relationships between species diversity and evenness of necrophagous Diptera and environmental conditions in three habitats of Jordan

Abstract

Weekly survey of forensically important necrophagous Diptera was conducted using bottle-based baited during, January 2008 to January 2009 in the Balqa Governorate of Jordan. Sampling took place in three habitats: one is urban (Al-Salt), the other rural (Hummra), and the third is a natural habitat (Wadi-Shabi). Species diversity measures were estimated to reveal between habitats the differences that exist in insects and thereafter, a correlation analysis was conducted to associate species diversity with the environmental. The highest species diversity was found to occur in the natural habitat (Wadi-Shabi) when compared with the other two habitats. All measures of species diversity varied significantly between habitats (one-way ANOVA). Additionally, negative correlations between most measures of species diversity and temperature were observed for the natural habitat (Wadi-Shabi) in comparison with urban and rural habitats. To a lesser extent, relative humidity does not correlate with species diversity and species evenness.