Quantitative status of population of insects from Lucknow region, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Insects are found everywhere in our nature, yet, their diversity, abundance and characterization in various ecosystems are still not well defined, systematically. The present study was conducted to assess and compare the abundance, species richness and diversity of insects amongst four different spots of Lucknow district, Uttar Pradesh, India. A total of 746 insects which belonged to 6 insect species and 3 insect orders were collected from the different spots. The ecological parameters like evenness index, Margalef index, Shannon diversity index, Simpson index, Simpson diversity index and effective number of species were analysed to determine the population status of insects. The findings illustrated that the most abundant group of insects was Hymenoptera followed by Lepidoptera and Orthoptera, respectively. Notably, the differential biodiversity of insects and the variations in associated ecological parameters were observed due to the deviations in the environmental factors of four spots. Among four spots, spot 2 (Capital Public School) illustrated the highest Shannon diversity index (1.762), Simpson diversity index (0.829) and Margalef index (0.984). Thus, the assessed insect’s diversity and other intended ecological parameters can be beneficial to build the strategic frameworks for setting up the agro-based economic standards of a particular region.