Species diversity and functional diversity of insects in Wuxijiang National Wetland Park, East China

World-wide wetlands are experiencing increasing pressure from economic development, including the conversion of wetlands to agriculture. While it is assumed that this land use change will have negative impacts on local biodiversity, the specific impacts of agriculture on insect biodiversity in wetland ecosystems are poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap we investigated insect communities in the multi-land use Wuxijiang National Wetland Park, quantifying both species diversity and functional diversity. Four species diversity indexes and twelve functional diversity indexes were used to describe species diversity and functional diversity respectively. We provide three primary results: 1.) Species diversity and functional diversity of natural wetland plants is not necessarily higher than artificial economic plants; 2.) Species diversity indexes are generally correlated with functional diversity indexes; and 3.) Straw mulch cultivation can increase the species diversity and functional diversity of insect.