Richness and Abundance of Insects

The aim of this report is to highlight the differences in richness and abundance of arthropod species living in eucalypt forest leaf litter and rainforest leaf litter. It was predicted that the rainforest leaf litter would have more richness and abundance of species than the eucalypt forest leaf litter.

Leaf litter samples taken from the rainforest of Mt Nebo and the eucalypt forest of Mt Cootha, were placed into berlese funnels under light and shaken to separate the arthropods from the leaf litter before examination and counting of species abundance and richness under a microscope.

The results showed that the rainforest leaf litter of Mt Nebo was significantly richer in species than the leaf litter from the eucalypt forest of Mt Cootha. The mean average quantity of the most commonly found species from the two samples showed that the rainforest leaf litter of Mt Nebo had significantly more abundance of species than that of the eucalypt forest leaf litter found at Mt Cootha.

This difference of richness and abundance between rainforest leaf litter and eucalypt forest leaf litter could be due a difference in geography or climate influencing the chance of survival due to a limitation of food sources subsequently having an effect on the quantity of species. The structure of the forest may also have an effect on species with regard to the density of the forest canopy regulating the amount of light or rain that reaches the forest floor and consequently influencing the ability of species to find adequate nourishment.

In summary this report demonstrates that the richness and abundance of the species of arthropods within the rainforest of Mt Nebo was significantly higher than that of the eucalypt forest of Mt Cootha.