Features of insect communities of alpine meadow ecosystem in Qilian Mountain regions

The butterfly net was used to survey the insects on four different biotopes at the Haibei Research Station in the middle of July 2009 for determining the features of insect communities of alpine meadow by 100 times. A total of 908 insects were collected which belonged to 10 orders，42 families, and 65 species. The Diptera insects were dominant groups and the main associate groups were Hymenoptera and Coleoptera insects. Insect species diversity and abundance index was typical meadowPotentilla fruticosa shrublandslope meadowswamp meadow; however the evenness index was not different among four biotopes. The dominant index was the highest in the swamp meadow and was the lowest in the typical meadow. The insect community of typical meadow had the biggest similarity with that of the slope meadow and had the bigger similarity with that of the P. fruticosa bush; however the insect community of typical meadow had the lowest similarity with that of the swamp meadow. This study suggested that the change of habitat and climate altered the community structure and biodiversity of insects.