Influence of environmental conditions (temperature and humidity) on the population density and distribution of domestic insects in Kirkuk City
Republic of Iraq, Ministry of Education, Salah al-Din Education Directorate-Samarra Education Department
Research Article
International Journal of Life Science Research Archive, 2026, 10(02), 139-149.
Article DOI: 10.53771/ijlsra.2026.10.2.0045
Publication history:
Received on 05 May 2026; revised on 11 June 2026; accepted on 13 June 2026
Abstract:
The objective of this study was to determine the impact of environment variables such as temperature and relative humidity on insect population density and distribution in households. The field analysis was carried out between May and September 2025 in various residential areas with varying population densities. Insect sampling was done using sticky traps, light traps, and hand-picked, and the temperatures and humidity levels were recorded daily.
Results showed that there was a definite variation in environmental factors and insect populations based on time and location. The temperature factor steadily increased until the mid-summer when it reached its peak value. However, humidity had the exact opposite relationship with time. 3250 insects were captured, where the most common insects were cockroaches, followed by flies and ants.
There was an observable seasonality effect, where the insect density increased during warm seasons. There was a statistically significant positive relationship between temperature and insect density (r = 0.72, p < 0.01) and a statistically significant inverse relationship between humidity and insect density (r = -0.48, p < 0.05). There were also statistically significant differences among study sites and months according to ANOVA results. These results emphasize the crucial importance of environmental variables in regulating the insect population dynamics in urban environments.
Keywords:
Environmental Factors; Temperature; Humidity; Household Insects; Urban Environment; Insect Density; Distribution
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Copyright © 2026 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0