Diversity, distribution, and abundance of annelida in UiTM Negeri Sembilan forest reserve / Siti Khadijah Baniran and Nursyazni Abdul Rahim

Annelida is a universal, abundant, and varied collection of creatures that can be discovered on terrestrial, freshwater as well as in marine. Their biological importance relies not only on the comparatively high number of species but also on their often-high abundance. However, knowledge of Annelida in UiTM Negeri Sembilan Forest Reserve is poorly known and documented resulted due to a lack of awareness of their role in the ecosystem. Hence, this research was done to identify the species and investigate the diversity and abundance of Annelida in three different areas in UiTM Negeri Sembilan Forest Reserve. This research was advantageous in helping to manage, preserve, protect, and conserve Annelida’s habitat for ecological sustainability and may contribute to society's knowledge and information to other researchers about Annelida’s diversity. A sampling collection was conducted seven times in April 2022 at Site A, Site B and Site C. The specimens were hand-sorted and placed in a plastic pail. Then, the specimens were brought to the laboratory for the identification process. A total of 134 individual Annelida samples were collected from Site A (N = 85), Site B (N = 11) and Site C (N = 38). From detailed identifications and observations based on morphological characteristics, they were classified into two species which are Pontoscolex corethrurus (N = 110) and Haemadipsa zeylanica (N = 24). The statistical analysis shows the richness (R) = 0.20, diversity (H) = 0.47, evenness (E) = 0.68. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of this study shows both length and weight were significant to distinguish between P. corethrurus and H. zeylanica species. Based on this research, the Annelida diversity in the UiTM Forest Reserve is relatively low. However, further detailed research is needed to discover more about the variety of annelids in this area.