Vegetos
(An International Journal of Plant Research & Biotechnology)
New data on entomofauna as an indicator of plant degradation in arid regions, case of the Naâma area (South-West Algeria)
*Article not assigned to an issue yet
Israa Belhouchat, Djamel Brahimi, Tayeb Nouri, Kaltoum Djilali
Research Articles | Published: 23 September, 2025
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Keywords: Insects, Plant, Degradation, Indicators, Arid regions
Abstract
In arid regions, insects play a crucial role as bioindicators of environmental health, because of their ecological particularities; these species provide reponse on the characteristics of environments. Purpose is to provide new qualitative data on the structure and function of plant degradation indicator insects in arid regions. This study was carried out over 12 months (November 2022 – November 2023) in four stations in the Naâma region (southwest of Algeria). Insect diversity was studied based on quantitative data using. non-parametric indices of diversity, richness accumulation curves and analysis of similarity. A total of 82 species ,8 orders and 24 families were recorded, Coleoptera was the predominant order with 55.41%, with the family Tenebrionidae emerging as the most dominant, comprising a significant portion of the specimens collected, accounting for 26, 16% of all families identified. The highest values of species richness were recorded at the Retama vegetation site, with a total of 45 species, and the Shannon index (H’) was 4.97, while the highest values lowest were obtained in a wetland site with 20 species. These results highlight the impact of environmental degradation on insect diversity, density and distribution, and the relationship between a healthy ecosystem and the presence of certain taxa, which serve as important biological indicators in arid and fragile ecosystems. Our results clearly showed that insect diversity had different responses to the degradation of arid ecosystems so the abundance of certain orders could be used as indicators of degradation. This study introduces a new perspective on the use of entomofauna as an ecological indicator in the future monitoring and management in arid regions.
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Author Information
Laboratory Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in Arid and Semi‑Arid area, Biodiversity Valorization and Conservation in Arid and Semi-arid zone, institute of science, Center University of Salhi Ahmed, Naâma, Algeria