Diversity, Relative Abundance, and Distribution of  Termites in Yibab Kebele, Bahir Dar Zuria District,  Northwestern Ethiopia

ASSABU, ANILEY

dc.contributor.author	ASSABU, ANILEY
dc.date.accessioned	2024-11-01T07:59:08Z
dc.date.available	2024-11-01T07:59:08Z
dc.date.issued	2024-10
dc.identifier.uri	http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/16080
dc.description.abstract	Termites are ecosystem engineers of tropical and subtropical soils. The knowledge of their diversity and distribution is important for environmental management. However, there are no enough scientific documents on the distribution of termites around Yibab kebele in Bahir Dar Zuria District. Therefore, this study was conducted from February to July 2023 to investigate the diversity, abundance, and distribution of termite species in Yibab kebele by considering the dry and wet seasons. A systematic random sampling technique was applied to classify the study site into habitats such as farmland, protected vegetation, settlement/village, and grassland. The area of these habitats is 9.55 km2 , 2.83 km2 , 11.28 km2, and 10.82 km2 , respectively. For data collection, 7, 6, 20, and 19 sampling plots at intervals of 400 m measuring 30 m x 30 m were established. Data were collected using maize stalks as bait buried in the ground and collection was done early in the morning and late afternoon when termites are active. A Shannon-Weiner diversity index was used to evaluate termite diversity. Correspondence analysis was used to examine the relationship between termite diversity and types of habitats. A total of 17962 termite individuals belonging to two families (Termitidae and Rhinotermitidae), three subfamilies (Macrotermitinae, Termitinae, and Coptotermitinae), and five genera (Macrotermes, Odontotermes, Microtermes, Amitermes, and Coptotermes) were identified. Macrotermes followed by Microterme termite individuals were found to be more abundant in the study area. Genus diversity was the highest in settlement (1.41) and the lowest in farmland (1.20). The highest and the lowest species evenness were recorded in settlement (0.88) and farmland (0.75) habitats, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the abundance of termites across the four habitats (2 = 3968.100, df = 3, P< 0.001). Termite populations were significantly higher during the rainy season. Season and habitat were the main factors for guiding the distribution and abundance of termites in the study area. Most of the termites in the present study area tend to prefer protected vegetation habitat type. The present study gives insight in to concerns that the Yibab Kebele area supports a few families of termites. To provide a full picture of the termite diversity and species composition, further molecular studies have to be conducted in the study area. Keywords: Abundance, Bahir Dar, Diversity, Termites	en_US
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.subject	Biology	en_US
dc.title	Diversity, Relative Abundance, and Distribution of Termites in Yibab Kebele, Bahir Dar Zuria District, Northwestern Ethiopia	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US