Species richness and true diversity of cynipid galling-wasps community in oak forests of West-Azerbaijan Province (Iran)

Abstract

In this survey, the oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) were collected from oak forests of West-Azerbaijan Province in six sites, from April to October. Species richness, heterogeneity, evenness and true diversity were measured. Based on the result of this study, 37 of oak gall wasps species on oak trees (Quercus infectoria Oliv. and Quercus brantii Lindl.) were identified in West-Azerbaijan Province in 2009 and 2010. Most galls occurred on Q. infectoria. All the collected oak gall wasps belonged to seven genera: Andricus, Cynips, Neuroterus, Chilaspis, Pseudoneuroterus, Biorhiza and Aphelonyx. The expected number of oak gall wasps species on Q. infectoria and Q. brantii was estimated to be 27 and 10, respectively. The highest amount of gal wasps’ species richness with rarefaction method was recorded in Pardanan, with 28 oak gall wasps species. Furthermore, the highest amount of Gini-Simpson and Shannon entropy index were recorded in Sardasht, while the highest evenness was recorded in Shalmash. Differences in the local distribution of oak species, especially their oak subspecies, and the climate of the locations should be considered as one main factor in species diversity and the distribution of oak gall wasps species in different locations.

Keywords: Alpha diversity, distribution, rarefaction, evenness, forest