Hiking trails effects on the diversity of gallinducing insects in high altitude ecosystem, St. Katherine Protectorate, Egypt
KAMEL, MOHAMED;
Abstract
Wadi Telah in the St. Katherine region of the Sinai, Egypt, is a high mountainous habitat
with an outstanding biodiversity. At the same time, it is a preferred tourist destination
and hiking area. It order to find out whether hiking has a negative effect on the insect
populations in the area, a survey was carried out for the spatial variation of the diversity
of gall-inducing insects at different distances from the main hiking trail. A total
of 42,317 specimens of six gall-inducing insect species was found, belonging to three
orders. Both the species richness and the abundance of gall-inducing insects were significantly
positively correlated with the distance from the trail. In most species, the
proportion of galled plants was significantly positively correlated with the distance
from the hiking trail. These results indicate that even the “soft” disturbance resulting
from a hiking trail has negative environmental impacts.
with an outstanding biodiversity. At the same time, it is a preferred tourist destination
and hiking area. It order to find out whether hiking has a negative effect on the insect
populations in the area, a survey was carried out for the spatial variation of the diversity
of gall-inducing insects at different distances from the main hiking trail. A total
of 42,317 specimens of six gall-inducing insect species was found, belonging to three
orders. Both the species richness and the abundance of gall-inducing insects were significantly
positively correlated with the distance from the trail. In most species, the
proportion of galled plants was significantly positively correlated with the distance
from the hiking trail. These results indicate that even the “soft” disturbance resulting
from a hiking trail has negative environmental impacts.
Other data
Title | Hiking trails effects on the diversity of gallinducing insects in high altitude ecosystem, St. Katherine Protectorate, Egypt | Authors | KAMEL, MOHAMED | Keywords | Biodiversity;Sinai;Wadi Telah;plant galls;anthropogenic activities ecotourism | Issue Date | 8-Dec-2020 | Journal | Zoology in the Middle East | Volume | 67 | Issue | 1 | Start page | 48 | End page | 56 | DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/09397140.2020.1859975 |
Recommend this item
Similar Items from Core Recommender Database
Items in Ain Shams Scholar are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.