Insect pollinators and their abundance in west bengal

Studying pollinator diversity and their abundance is essential to analyze the health of the agroecosystem. This study undertook observations on the number of pollinators visiting the flowers/ m² for 5 min at randomly selected ten spots in the agroecosystems in West Bengal. The diversity index was measured by Simpson’s Index of Diversity. A total number of 55 individuals of insect pollinators belonging to 19 families and four orders were observed of which Hymenoptera were maximum (47.25%) followed by: Coleoptera (24.68%), Lepidoptera (11.26%) and Diptera (8.29%). Simpson’s index ranged from 0 to 1. and maximum species richness was found in Lower Bongbasti, Kalimpong (0.995) and the least at ABBlock farm BCKV Kalyani (0.751). Among the surveyed areas, species evenness was found maximum in Khelia North 24 Parganas (1.34) and the least in Jhanti Pahari Bankura (0.14). So far as pollinator species richness is concerned, it was maximum in hilly terrains of Kalimpong followed by North 24 Parganas, Bankura and Nadia.