Abstract ID: 3.8331 | Pending | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

Invertebrates can be important ecological monitoring indicators because of their sensitivity to environmental changes. Among these, tiger beetles are known to be useful bioindicators, especially when it comes to evaluating changes in quality of riparian habitat. Our research focuses on the diversity, habitat dependence, and associations of tiger beetles in the Ramganga watershed, a key river in the Western Himalayas. We found 17 tiger beetle species in eight genera. Among these, two species occur exclusively in muddy habitats, seven in sandy habitats, and eight were found across multiple habitats, such as grasslands, gravel, rocks, and shrubs. The Ramganga River flows through mountainous terrain that is characterised by diverse vegetation types, including riparian grasslands, shrubs, and patches of forest that contribute to habitat heterogeneity. These areas have diverse climate conditions because of the great altitudinal range of the watershed area. Through an analysis of similarity test (ANOSIM) and permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA), we found that there are significant differences in the makeup of tiger beetle communities in different habitats. Using the indicator value index (IndVal), we identified two species that can be used as an indicator for habitat quality in gravel and rock habitats, three for muddy habitats, ten for sandy habitats, and one for shrub habitats. Through market basket analysis (MBA) using the apriori algorithm, we found that two species were positively associated with muddy habitats and seven species with sandy habitats. These findings provide baseline data on tiger beetle diversity and their habitat preferences as bioindicators of habitat change and the management of riparian ecosystems.