title: Influence of shifting cultivation practices on soil-plant-beetle interactions.
abstract: Shifting cultivation (jhum) is a major land use practice in Mizoram. It was considered as an eco-friendly and efficient method when the cycle duration was long (15-30 years), but it poses the problem of land degradation and threat to ecology when shortened (4-5 years) due to increased intensification of farming systems. Studying beetle community structure is very helpful in understanding how shifting cultivation affects the biodiversity features compared to natural forest system. The present study examines the beetle species diversity and estimates the effects of shifting cultivation practices on the beetle assemblages in relation to change in tree species composition and soil nutrients. Scarabaeidae and Carabidae were observed to be the dominant families in the land use systems studied. Shifting cultivation practice significantly (P < 0.05) affected the beetle and tree species diversity as well as the soil nutrients as shown by univariate (one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation and regression, diversity indices) and multivariate (cluster analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), canonical variate analysis (CVA), permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA), permutational multivariate analysis of dispersion (PERMDISP)) statistical analyses. Besides changing the tree species composition and affecting the soil fertility, shifting cultivation provides less suitable habitat conditions for the beetle species. Bioindicator analysis categorized the beetle species into forest specialists, anthropogenic specialists (shifting cultivation habitat specialist), and habitat generalists. Molecular analysis of bioindicator beetle species was done using mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) marker to validate the beetle species and describe genetic variation among them in relation to heterogeneity, transition/transversion bias, codon usage bias, evolutionary distance, and substitution pattern. The present study revealed the fact that shifting cultivation practice significantly affects the beetle species in terms of biodiversity pattern as well as evolutionary features. Spatiotemporal assessment of soil-plant-beetle interactions in shifting cultivation system and their influence in land degradation and ecology will be helpful in making biodiversity conservation decisions in the near future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, 796004, India.
authors.forename: Kalibulla Syed
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, 796004, India.
authors.forename: Marcy D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Momin
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, 796004, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lalrotluanga
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, 796004, India.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rosangliana
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, 796004, India.
authors.forename: Souvik
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghatak
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, 796004, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zothansanga
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, 796004, India.
authors.forename: Nachimuthu Senthil
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, 796004, India. gurus64@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Guruswami
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gurusubramanian
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D001517:Coleoptera; D017753:Ecosystem; D065928:Forests; D007194:India; D012987:Soil; D013997:Time Factors; D014197:Trees
chemical_list: D012987:Soil
keywords: Beetle assemblage; Bioindicator; COI sequence analysis; Plant species composition; Shifting cultivation; Soil parameters