Whats Difference Between Faunistic and Biodiversity Studies

While faunistic studies give information about the distribution of animals in a region, the diversity (number and variety of species) studies give information about diversity of plant and animal life within a region of which they are part. In other words; faunistic studies prove the existence of animals in that habitat or region with systematically or by random sampling. The number of individuals of the sampled species is not that important. Faunistic studies are essential scientific studies, especially for the detection of new species and their introduction to the inventory. There is no doubt as to the great desirability of faunistic studies on the geographical distribution of animals. Biological diversity is the variability among living organisms from all sources (including terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems) and the ecological complexes. This includes diversity within species (alpha), between species (beta), and of ecosystems (gamma). The importance of this description is that it draws attention to the many dimensions of biodiversity (Genetic, species, habitat, and ecosystem). Studies of biological diversity and its measurement necessarily require systematic and homogenous sampling methods. Especially when comparing two or more habitats in terms of species richness, diversity, evenness, similarity, etc. Such biodiversity indices are often used to measure the diversity in habitats destroyed by human. Four pasture ecosystems, two of which are natural and two of which are grazed by sheep and goats, were chosen as the study area in Atabey district of Isparta province. Pitfall trap and sweep net sampling methods were used in selected habitats. While the pitfall trap sampling method was applied homogeneously in the habitats, the sweep net sampling method was not applied homogeneously. The data obtained from these two sampling methods, homogeneous and non-homogeneous, were used in the calculation of biodiversity parameters.We desire to call attention in this manuscript to the differencesbetween faunistic and biodiversity studies (specially its measurement) with reference to the previous studies. Key words: insect, species richness, dominancy, similarity, evenness