Influence of public road proximity on ground-dwelling insect communities

Abstract

Ecological studies on road's impact on wildlife have concentrated on vertebrates although less is known of their effects on invertebrates. The current study presents public road influences on species richness, abundance, and diversity of ground dwelling insects in Arusha National Park in Tanzania. Values from pitfall traps data were generally higher in core habitat than road verge. Nine species were only found in road verge and twenty eight species found only in core habitat. Results also show significant differences p≤0.01 in species richness, abundances and diversity of ground-dwelling insects, between road verge and core habitat with greater values for core area, where soil acidity was low and cation exchange capacity was high. Results suggest that high soil pH, relative to low soil pH, provides good conditions for different insects species. These findings provide evidence on the effect of public roads on distribution of wildlife communities in protected area and hence call for proper road design and management of established roads in protected areas.