author(s)
Mustafa M Soliman, Asmaa A Haggag and Mohamed M El-Shazly

abstract
The effects of long-term industrial pollution, characterized by elevated soil concentrations of Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn, were examined on the abundance and diversity of grasshopper communities in grass strips along the edges of farmland at various distances from an industrial complex in the Al-Tebbin region of South Cairo, Egypt. Six sites up to 10 km downwind from the main sources of industrial pollution were selected. Grasshoppers were collected monthly from June to October in 2012 and 2013 by sweep-net sampling. Although significant differences were found for the total abundance of grasshoppers between sites (t = –5.33, p = 0.006), none were found for species diversity, richness, and evenness between moderately and highly polluted sites, but all values were higher in the moderately polluted sites. Diversity and richness indices decreased with increasing soil metal levels with no statistical significance observed for species richness; only Cd and Pb were significantly correlated with species diversity (r = −0.94, for Cd; r = −0.82, for Pb). No trend was observed between species evenness and metal concentrations in soil. Multivariate analyses grouped the study sites based on the degree (moderate or high) of heavy metal contamination; significant differences were detected between grasshopper community structures in moderately and highly polluted sites using one-way analysis of similarities (ANOSIM, R = 0.740).