Grasshoppers biodiversity and their indication function to habitat of Ningxia grassland

The present study analyzed the community compositions, diversities and similarities of 4 types of grassland. There were total 39 species of grasshoppers obtained in this study. There were 10 species of grasshoppers which could lead to economic losses and constituted the dominant populations of grasshopper in natural grassland of Ningxia. The numbers of individuals and species, diversity, and species richness of grasshoppers were different in these different types of grassland. The number of species of grasshoppers was highest in the desert steppe region and lowest in the meadow area. The numbers of individuals of grasshoppers were highest in dry rangeland area and lowest in meadow area. The diversity of grasshoppers was highest in desert steppe region and lowest in dry rangeland area. The species richness of grasshoppers was highest in desert steppe region and lowest in the meadow area. The similarities of grasshopper groups were highest in desert steppe region and desert-grassland area with the value of 0.655, followed by meadow area and dry rangeland area with the value of 0.578. The order of similarities of grasshoppers was: desert steppe region and dry rangeland area, desert-grassland area and dry rangeland area, desert steppe region and meadow area, desert-grassland area and meadow area with the similarity index of 0.517, 0.405, 0.423, 0.324, respectively.