Abstract

Ecological barriers such as mountains are among the important factors leading to fragmentation of the range of different species and the important cause of vicariance events. Ouarsenis massif (Tissemsilt, North-West Algeria) is an important protected forest of Atlas cedar (Cedrus atíantica M.) and other endemic species. This paper presents a preliminary study of scorpion diversity and assesses of this biodiversity change at this Mountain range along a gradient of many ecological descriptors including elevation, vegetation cover, slope and soil types. During the two years 2020 and 2021, we sampled more than 179 specimens of scorpions belonging to eight species under 2 genera distributed in 2 families. The family Buthidae is represented by Buthus tunetanus (relative abundance "RA"=47.49%), Buthus paris (RA=16.76%), Buthus apiatus (RA=1.12%), Buthus aures (RA=1.68%), and Buthus sp. (RA=1.12%). The family Scorpionidae is represented by Scorpio maurus (RA=25.14%), Scorpio punicus (RA=5.03%), and Scorpio sp. (RA=1.68%). The Shannon's index (H'=2.71 bits) indicates that Ouarsenis massif region has a high level of scorpion diversity and the value of evenness (E=0.90) reflects the high equilibrium between the effectiveness of sampled species. The distribution of scorpions was studied by ecological descriptors when the main determinant of species distribution is the elevation and Soil types. The vegetation cover can be considered as an ancillary factor.

Details

Title
Diversity and distribution pattern of scorpions from the Ouarsenis massif (Tissemsilt, North-West Algeria)
Author
Chedad, A 1 ; Hammou, M A 2 ; Chelghoum, H 3 ; Amara, O O 4 ; El-Bouhissi, M 5 ; Dahmani, W; Sadine, S E

 Department of Biological Sciences, Laboratory of Saharan Bio-Ressources: Preservation and Valorization, University of Ouargia, 30000 Ouargia, Algeria 
 Department and Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Laboratory of Agro Biotechnology and Nutrition in SemiArid Areas, Ibn Khaidoun University of Tiaret, 14000 Tiaret, Algeria 
 Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Plant Biodiversity Laboratory: Conservation and Enhancement, Djillaii Lia bes University, Sidi Bel Abbes 22000, Algeria 
 Directorate of Forest Conservation of Tissemsi/t, 38000 Tissemsi/t, Algeria 
 Laboratory Ecodeveiopment of Spaces, Djiiaii Liabes University of de Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria 
Pages
36-43
Section
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Bogdan Chmelnitskiy Melitopol State Pedagogical University
e-ISSN
25202138
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2680350015
Copyright
© 2022. This work is published under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the“License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.