Comparative Study On Moth Community Diversity In Quercus Variabilis And Q.mongolica Forests In Northern China

This paper investigated and compared the moth species composition,diversity,and temporal characteristics in northern China in two kinds of forests(Quercus variabilis,Quercus mongolica)at three sites(Jiulong Mountain,Beijing;Luanping,Hebei Province;Keqi,Inner Mongolia).DNA barcode-COI gene was used to identify some moth species.Furthermore,the adequacy of the sampling survey was evaluated by the species accumulation saturation curve.This research overcame the difficulties of limited number of investigations due to COVID-19,established data of different moth species,analyzed the time series dynamic change rules,and compared the community structure and diversity of moths in Quercus variabilis forest and Quercus mongolica forest.It could provide a basis for further monitoring and investigation of oak forest biodiversity in the future.The main findings are as follows:(1)The international public gene database retrieval for moth species identification indicates the need for extensive collection of identification and establishment of China own moth COI database in the future.In this study,65 out of 114 COI genes were identified successfully in species.(2)Through different light-on periods at night and different monthly surveys,this paper established the species saturation curve of moths collected daily and monthly,providing a basis for sampling surveys as well as accurate estimation and comparison of moth species.(3)A total of 2521 moth specimens of 293 species in 21 families were obtained from the Quercus variabilis forest and Quercus mongolica forest.The moth species composition shows the great differences not only between the Quercus variabilis and the Quercus mongolica forests,but also between the Quercus mongolica forest in different regions.The moth community characteristic is very dissimilar.(4)According to diversity index analysis,there are obvious differences in the diversity of moth communities between Quercus variabilis forest and Quercus mongolica forest.The diversity of moth communities in the Quercus variabilis forest in Beijing and the Quercus mongolica in Inner Mongolia is more abundant than that in the Quercus mongolica forest in Hebei.Through the analysis of the diversity at different classification levels,this research finds that the family-level diversity can also reflect the diversity of habitats,but the diversity characteristics at the genus and species level have better representativeness.(5)The moth community diversity in the Quercus variabilis forest and Quercus mongolica forest has obvious temporal characteristics.The diversity of moth communities in the Quercus variabilis forest in Beijing and the Quercus mongolica forest in Inner Mongolia both reached their highest in July;while the diversity of the Quercus mongolica forest in Hebei presented a downward trend in July,due to the peculiarities of the outbreak of Fentonia ocypete.From June to July and July to August in each habitat,the diversity index and evenness index were low,the dominance index was high,and the dominant species were obvious.The richness index was the lowest in June.