ISSN:1991-8178 Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences Journal home page: www.ajbasweb.com Distribution and Species Richness of Odonata in Selected Area in Langkawi Island, Kedah, Malaysia 1 Farizawati S., 2 Norma-Rashid Y. and 3 Idris A.B. 1 National University of Malaysia, School of Environmental and Natural Resources Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, 43600 Bangi. Selangor. 2 Professor, University of Malaya, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 3 Professor, National University of Malaysia, School of Environmental and Natural Resources Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, 43600 Bangi. Selangor. A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 28 August 2015 Accepted 15 September 2015 Available online 15 October 2015 Keywords: Odonata; distribution; species richness; Langkawi Island. A B S T R A C T A study on distribution and species richness of Odonata was conducted for 11 months in five selected area in Langkawi Island, namely Hutan Lipur Lubuk Semilang (HLLS), Hutan Lipur Telaga Tujuh (HLT7), Hutan Lipur Durian Perangin (HLDP), Hutan Lipur Air Terjun Temurun (HLT) and Taman CHOGM (TC). A total of 4,044 individuals were collected, belonging to 64 species from 11 families. HLLS recorded the highest number of Odonata species with 44 species and HLT recorded the least number of Odonata witk only 19 species. The Mao Tao species accumulation curves for all study sites except TC did not plateau but continued to increase, giving an indication that not all Odonata species from these study sites were collected during sampling. 2015 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved. To Cite This Article: Farizawati, S., Norma-Rashid, Y. and Idris, A.B., Distribution and species richness of Odonata in selected area in Langkawi Island, Kedah, Malaysia. Aust. J. Basic & Appl. Sci., 9(31): 263-267, 2015 INTRODUCTION Langkawi Islands is an archipelago of 104 island (Figure 1), lies in the Andaman Sea and approximately 30 km off the Kedah coast. Strait of Malacca separates the islands from the mainland of Peninsular Malaysia and the total land mass of the islands is 47, 848 hectares. The main island spans approximately 25 km from north to south, and the coastal areas consist of flat, alluvial plains punctuated with limestones ridges. About two-thirds of the islands is dominated by forest mountains, hills and natural vegetation. Latiff (1994) has briefly discussed the vegetation and floristic composition of Langkawi Island. On 1 st June 2007, Langkawi Island was officially declared as the 52 nd World Geopark by UNESCO, three of its main conservation areas are Machincang Cambrian Geoforest Park, Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park and Kilim Karst Geoforest Park. All these three parks are the most popular tourism area in Langkawi (Chan, 2009). Dragonflies and damselflies belong to a group of insect called Odonata. With 5952 extant species in 652 genera have been described up to 2010 (Dijkstra et al., 2013). Odonata is well represented in the tropics, with 500 species described in Sundaland and of these, 350 species are found within the territorial limits of Malaysia (Abdo et al., 2013; Farizawati et al., 2014). Odonates, both as larvae or adults are predators. They prey extensively on other invertebrates and small vertebrates like small fishes. The presence of odonates is an important indicator for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem. These insects lay their eggs in or near only freshwater, and thus their high abundance in an area is a good evidence of the quality of freshwater of the area (Noss, 1990; Orr et al., 2004). MATERIALS AND METHODS Study Sites: Five areas in Langkawi Island were selected as study sites (Table 1), namely namely Hutan Lipur Lubuk Semilang (HLLS), Hutan Lipur Telaga Tujuh (HLT7), Hutan Lipur Durian Perangin (HLDP), Hutan Lipur Air Terjun Temurun (HLT) and Taman CHOGM (TC). HLLS is a secondary and disturbed forest with diverse habitat. The main vegetation are Nelumbo sp. and Typha sp. HLT7 has a unique rocks formation that form seven separate pool. The word telaga in Malay language means pool. HLDP located in Gunung Raya Forest Reserved and it s a hill dipterocarp forest. TC located in the middle of the only town in Langkawi Island called Kuah. This park was created to commemorate CHOGM meeting held in Langkawi Island in October 1989. Corresponding Author: Idris, A.B., National University of Malaysia, School of Environmental and Natural Resources Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. Tel: +603-89215973; E-mail: idrisgh@ukm.my
264 Farizawati S. et al, 2015 Field Collection, Preservation and Identification: Methods of sampling and preservation were based on Orr (2005) and Borror and White (1970). Adult Odonata were collected using handheld nets. Larval odonates were sampled using a long handle D-shaped aquatic net (15 cm diameter, 40 cm long, 20 µm mesh net). The net was dragged over a meter of river substrates or margin. For each location, a standard size of transect 50 meters by 50 meters was covered. Sampling time started from 9.00 am till 5.00 pm. The adult specimens were preserved in the triangle acid free paper envelopes. On the other hand, larvae were preserved in 95% alcohol. All adult odonates and larvae were identified to the species level, using pertinent literatures (Orr, 2003 and 2005; Catherine and Yong, 2004). Data Analysis: Species accumulation curves (Mao Tau function) were calculated and constructed to predict the asymptote, to identify sampling effort and to estimate species richness in the selected area by two non-parametric estimators. The calculation was computed using Estimate S Win version 8.20 with 100 times randomization without replacement (Colwell, 2005). Table 1: Location reading of study sites. Fig. 1: Map of Langkawi Islands, Kedah, Malaysia. Results: A total of 4,044 specimens (adults and larvae) comprising of 64 species from 11 families of dragonflies and damselflies were sampled throughout the 11 months of sampling (Table 2). In this study, Suborder Anisoptera was represented by five families and Zygoptera was represented by six families. A total of 43 species from 32 genera was recorded for Anisopteran. Libellulidae was the most diverse group, with 24 species from 18 genera. Gomphidae was represented by 10 species, Cordulidae by seven species, Chlorogomphidae and Aeshnidae were represented only by one species each. Meanwhile, six families were recorded in this study for the suborder Zygoptera, namely Coenagrionidae, Platycnemididae, Chlorocyphidae, Protoneuridae, Calopterygidae and Megapodagrionidae. This suborder had a smaller representative, with 21 species and 13 genera. Coenagrionidae was well represented by 10 species from five genera. On the other hand, the other zygopteran families, namely Protoneuridae, Calopterygidae and Platycnemididae were represented by three species each, while Chlorocyphidae and Megapodagrionidae recorded only one species each. The Mao Tao species accumulation curves for all the five study sites are shown in Figure 2. The species accumulation curves for all the study sites except TC did not plateau but continued to increase, giving an indication that not all Odonata species from all these four study sites were collected during the sampling. Species accumulation curves for TC showed that all species from the site were collected during the sampling. However Mao Tao species accumulation curves showed that almost ample sampling effort in retrieving species at HLT7 and HLT. Jackniffe 1 and ACE of HLLS predicted a species richness of 55.91 and 51.1 species respectively (Table 3), in HLDP Jackniffe 1 and ACE predicted a species richness of 41.18 and 38.01. While Jackniffe 1 and ACE prediction of species richness of HLT7 (30.64 and 28.35) and HLT (21.37 and 1954) accordingly. These means that only a few more species were expected to be collected in all study sites; HLLS (7.1-11.91), HLDP (5.01
265 Farizawati S. et al, 2015 8.18), HLT7 (1.35 3.64), HLT (0.54 2.37). ). Among the five study sites, the highest number of species recorded was in HLLS with 44 species. HLDP recorded 33 species, while HLT7 and TC recorded 27 species and 24 species of odonates respectively. Meanwhile, only 19 species were collected from HLT. Therefore, it can be concluded that the sampling effort in HLLS was approximately 78.7% (44 out of 55.91 species); in HLDP 80.1% (33 out of 41.18 species); in HLT7 88.1% (27 out of 30.64 species); in HLT 88% (19 out of 21.37 species) and in TC 96.3% (24 out of 24.91 species). Table 2: List and Distribution of the Odonata in study sites of Langkawi Island, Kedah. SPECIES HLLS HLT7 HLDP HLT TC FAMILY: LIBELLULIDAE 1.Zygonyx iris (Kirby, 1900) 2.Neurothemis fluctuans (Fabricius, 1793) 3.Neurothemis fulvia (Drury, 1773) 4.Trithemis aurora (Burmeister, 1839) 5.Trithemis festiva Rambur, 1842 6.Orthetrum sabina (Drury, 1770) 7.Orthetrum chrysis (Selys, 1891) 8.Orthetrum testaceum (Burmeister, 1839) 9.Orthetrum pruinosum (Rambur, 1842) 10.Orthetrum glaucum (Brauer, 1868) 11.Pantala flavescens (Fabricius, 1798) 12.Tholymis tillarga (Fabricius, 1798) 13.Diplacodes trivialis (Rambur, 1842) 14.Acisoma panorpoides Rambur 1842 15. Aethriamanta gracilis (Brauer, 1868) 16.Potamarcha congener (Rambur, 1842) 17.Brachydiplax chalybea Brauer, 1868 18.Onychothemis testacea Laidlaw, 1902 19.Crocothermis servilia (Drury, 1770) 20.Rhodothemis rufa (Rambur, 1842) 21.Tetrathemis irregularis Kirby, 1889 22.Rhyothemis phyllis (Sulzer, 1776) 23.Hydrobasileus croceus (Brauer, 1867) 24.Tramea transmarina Selys 1878 FAMILY: CORDULIIDAE 25.Macromia cincta Rambur, 1842 26.Macromia gerstaeckeri (Kruger, 1899) 27.Macromia cydippe Laidlaw, 1922 28.Macromia westwoodii Selys, 1874 29.Macromidia genialis Fraser, 1927 30.Idionyx montana Karisch, 1891 31.Idionyx yolanda Selys, 1871 FAMILY: GOMPHIDAE 32.Megalogomphus sumatranus (Kruger, 1899) 33.Megalogomphus icterops (Martin, 1902) 34.Ictinogomphus decoratus (Selys, 1858) 35.Acrogomphus malayanus Laidlaw, 1925 36.Microgomphus chelifer Selys, 1858 SPECIES HLLS HLT7 HLDP HLT TC 37.Macrogomphus sp. 38.Stylogomphus malayanus Sasamoto 2001 39.Leptogomphus risi Laidlaw, 1933 40.Merogomphus parvus (Kruger, 1899) 41. Paragomphus capricornis (Forster, 1914) FAMILY: CHLOROGOMPHIDAE 42.Chlorogomphus arooni Asahina 1981 FAMILY: AESHNIDAE 43. Anax guttatus (Burmeister 1839) FAMILY: COENAGRIONIDAE 44.Ceriagrion cerinorubellum (Brauer, 1865) 45.Ceriagrion olivaceum Laidlaw, 1914 46.Agriocnemis femina (Brauer, 1868) 47.Agriocnemis rubescens Selys 1877 48.Agriocnemis pygmaea (Rambur 1842) 49.Ischnura senegalensis (Rambur, 1842) 50.Pseudagrion microcephalum (Rambur, 1842) 51.Pseudagrion australasiae Selys, 1876 52.Pseudagrion rubriceps Selys, 1876 53.Mortonagrion aborense (Laidlaw, 1914) FAMILY: PROTONEURIDAE 54.Prodasineura humeralis (Selys, 1860) 55.Prodasineura laidlawii (Forster, 1907) 56.Prodasineura collaris (Selys, 1860) FAMILY: CALOPTERYGIDAE 57.Neurobasis chinensis (Linnaeus, 1758) 58.Vestalis gracilis (Rambur, 1842) 59.Echo modesta Laidlaw, 1902 FAMILY: PLATYCNEMIDIDAE 60.Copera vittata (Selys, 1863) 61.Copera marginipes (Rambur, 1842) 62.Coeliccia didyma (Selys, 1863) FAMILY: CHLOROCYPHIDAE 63.Heliocypha biforata (Selys, 1859) 64.Rhinagrion sp.
266 Farizawati S. et al, 2015 Fig. 2: Species accumulation curve (Mao Tau function) depicting species richness for study sites. Table 3: Jackniffe 1 and ACE prediction of species richnessof the sudy sites. Discussion: The knowledge on the dragonflies and damselflies species diversity and distribution within rainforest in island around Malaysia is still rather inadequately known. A better knowledge of their spatial distribution could help to understand on how diversity changes from one island too another. To date, only one studies on Odonata in Langkawi Island by Butler and Kohler (2013) has been published. On the other hand, Farizawati et al (2014) published a preliminary list of Odonata in five islands in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia which included Langkawi Island. In this study, family of Libellulidae, as always was found to be the most dominant group. Libellulidae recorded 24 species from 18 genera. Libellulids is widely represented, locally and globally (Che Salmah, 1996; Norma-Rashid et al., 2001) because of its adaptation and tolerable to various environments, even to the extreme environment such as habitat with low dissolve oxygen or highly eutropic environments (Clausnitzer, 2003; Brown et al. 1991). Some strong flying libellulids were the most common where they dart about and spend most of the time perching under the sun. The most abundant libellulids in this study were Ortherum sabina, Ortherum chrysis and Orthetrum testaceum. Gomphidae showed some interesting species such as the two species of Megalogomphus ie Megalogomphus sumatranus and Megalogomphus icterops. Both were recorded in HLLS of which the inhabit is clear forest streams open to sunlight. These two species were also recorded by Butler and Kohler (2013) and Farizawati et al. (2014) at the same vicinity. Most of the gomphids, species were identified through the collected larvae. Acrogomphus malayanus and Microgomphus chelifer were very common in streams and rivers, thought the adults were hardly encountered, which is not unusual in rainforest species where adults behavior of gomphids is not well known (Carle, 1986). The presence of Gomphidae species also indicates good water and forest quality in some parts (Das et al., 2012). Zygoptera had a smaller representative in physical outlook and also was in numbers for each of the six families. Even though families Chlorocyphidae and Protoneuridae were not well represented, with only one and three species respectively, Heliocypha biforata (Chlorocyphidae) and Prodasineura laidlawii (Protoneuridae) were the most abundant species of Zygoptera. These two common spesies was found at all four recreational forest, (HLLS, HLDP, HLT7 and HLT). They are also among the species indicator for good water quality (Acquah- Lamptey, 2013). Amongst all the five study sites, HLLS recorded the highest number of Odonata species with 44 species, followed by HLDP with 32 species, HJT7 with 26 species and TC with 23 species. HLT recorded the least number of species with only 19 species. HLLS is a recreational forest that provides a variety of habitats that can accommodate more species of Odonata. Studies by researchers showed that species assemblages were strongly influenced by type of vegetations present at the habitats (Che Salmah et al., 2013; Villanueva and Mohagan, 2010). Conclusion: Although the 11 month collection period was not enough to sample all the Odonata species in the study sites, but nearly all species were successfully collected. The small difference between Mao Tau and true species richness as predicted by Jackniffe 1 and ACE might due to reduction in number of rare species (i.e singleton and unique) as sampling effort (i.e number of individuals) increased. According to Chazdon et al., (1998), the larger the number of rare species within a sample, the greater the difference
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