Insect Populations in Heavy Metal Polluted Environment in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Insects form a major part of the ecosystem and serve as tools for ecosystem management and conservation. Insectpopulations and fitness is however disturbed by environmental factors like heavy metal Pollution. Thus, the purposeof this research was to examine the populations of insects found in Ori-Ile village and its environs in Egbeda LocalGovernment Area of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Ori-Ile village which was formally a battery waste dumpsite, hasbeen ascertained from previous studies, to contained heavy metals in its soil. Insects were collected using sweep netand handpicking methods forth nightly every month from the study area (Oril-Ile, Majue 1, Majue 2 and Ogunbade-Egberi) for 18 months, between April 2016 to September 2017. Insect specimens collected were identified usingcomparative morphology with preserved insect specimens at the Departmental Museum, Zoology Department,University of Ibadan and at the insect museum in the Department of crop protection and Environmental Biology,University of Ibadan. In all, 8,917 insects from 22 species and 6 orders were gathered from the study sites. The mostprevalent category of insects, according to the results of the descriptive statistics used to analyse the data, wereHymenoptera (98.74%) > Lepidoptera (0.93%) > Orthoptera (0.18) > Odonata (0.07%) > Coleoptra (0.07) >Heteroptra (0.01). Majue 1 has the highest diversity index (Shanon's index (H) = 0.54) and richness index (Margalef'sindex (D) = 1.88). With an Evenness value (E = 0.13), Ogunbade-Egberi (the control site) had the highest evenness.According to the study, lepidopterans were the most varied and hymenopterans the most prevalent. In conclusion, thisinitial survey demonstrated that the research area has a high diversity and number of insects. Thus, this findingprovides a basis for future investigation