Biodiversity and population dynamics of litter-dwelling cockroaches inBelezma National Park (Algeria)

Authors: IMANE AZOUI, NAAMA FRAH, WAFFA HABBACHI, MOHAMED LAID OUAKID, BILLAL NIA

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the diversity, population dynamics, and distribution of forest cockroaches from the litter of three types of Mediterranean forests (Pinus halepensis, Juniperus phoenicea, Quercus ilex) in Belezma National Park (Northeast Algeria). In every type of forest, blattopteran individuals were hand-collected fortnightly from March 2013 to July 2014. Population dynamics were tested by multivariate analysis of variance for forest types and study months. The capture of 1885 individual forest cockroaches allowed the identification of six species (Loboptera angulata, Dziriblatta stenoptera, Phyllodromica subaptera, Phyllodromica zebra, Phyllodromica cincticollis, and Phyllodromica trivittata). In all studied forests, these species produced two generations per year (spring and autumn), in which the number of females was significantly higher than the number of males. However, P. Cincticollis established a single generation in the spring with a balanced sex ratio. L. Angulata and D. Stenoptera were the most abundant species. The values of individual abundances, species richness, and biodiversity were higher in P. Halepensis forest compared to Q. İlex and J. Phoenicea.

Keywords: Biodiversity, forest cockroaches, Belezma National Park, pathobiontic fauna, population dynamics

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