An entomologist performs nocturnal light trapping surveys in a southeastern Ariz
ID: 276109 • Letter: A
Question
An entomologist performs nocturnal light trapping surveys in a southeastern Arizona locality. During the surveys, the entomologist identified and counted species attracted to a mercury vapor light. The first survey is from 1991 and the second survey is from 2011. Between the first and second surveys, suburban development has introduced artificial light near the habitat. 2. taxon 1991 Chrysina gloriosa Cyclocephala melanocephala Diplotaxis s Ectypia clio Euparthenos nubilis Manduca muscosa Summarize the changes in insect abundance, species richness, and diversity between years in this habitat. Use statistics to support your conclusions. (14 points) a. sed on these data, does artificial light appear to have a greater etfect on insects in the order Lepidoptera or in the order Coleoptera? Briefly explain. (10 points)Explanation / Answer
According to the survey, the introduction of new artificial light near the habitat has some adverse effect on the population of chrysina glorisa from 15 to 6 which shows more than 50% reduction in the population. There is a drastic reduction of 5% in the population of Diplotaxis sp.too. Cyclocephala also marked a reduction of approximately 40%. These insects failed to adapt in this light leading to their death and reduction in population size to a greater extent.
While Strategus aloeus seems to be flourished in the presence of this light as the population increased from 3 to 5. These population adapt in such a way that this light becomes more useful for betterment of their lives and allow them to reproduce more readily.
Remaining species of insects showed not much alteration in their population size as they remain constant, so there was no effect of this light on them or they might have adapted to the condition.