Insect biodiversity of urban green spaces in Penang Island, Malaysia

Declining biodiversity is receiving much attention around the world and green spaces in urban areas can help enhance biodiversity by creating habitat for living organisms especially from the class Insecta. Insects maintain biodiversity on earth and play a key role in the regulation as well as dynamics of many ecosystem services. Insect conservation especially in urban areas can be done by protecting the beneficial habitat from human activity and creating an environment with modifications to facilitate the target insect’s conservation such as creating green roof spaces. In this study, the richness of insect species was assessed from two different vegetation arrangements, vertical and horizontal, from different sampling sites and noting their light intensity, solar radiation and relative humidity. There was no significant correlation between insect species richness and all the three abiotic factors (p > 0.05). However, different plant types; flowering and non-flowering, were found to affect the richness of insect species, with relatively more insect species present at study sites with flowering plants compared to study sites with non-flowering plants (p < 0.05). This information can help to develop a sustainable and comprehensive environment in urban areas.