Abstract

Seasonal Diversity of Common Phototropic Coleopterans in Ballavpur Wild Life Sanctuary: a Dry Deciduous Forest of West Bengal, India

Author(s): Hiroj Kumar Saha, Arijit Ganguly, ChandrikMalakar, Parimalendu Haldar

Coleopteran species are beneficial to mankind as some of them can be used as biological control of arthropod pests. Many buprestid beetles are known to be useful bio control agents of weeds. Some beetles are important to improve nutrient cycling, soil structure, forage growth and also act as crop pollinators. Seasonal pattern of abundance of coleopteran species fluctuate in different seasons. Higher capture of coleopteran population was observed in monsoon and lowest in post monsoon during the study period. From the results, each coleopteran species has its own characteristic pattern of fluctuation in certain seasons. The variation in the pattern of distribution of coleopterans in different seasons reflected that the build-up of the monsoon was greater in compare to the other seasons.