Monitoring fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages in two vertical strata in seasonal Atlantic Forest: temporal species turnover is lower in the canopy

To address how seasonality affects the richness and abundance of tropical insects, we compared the canopy and understorey communities of fruit-feeding butterflies in a seasonal Atlantic forest in south-eastern Brazil. Butterflies were sampled over 1 y using a standardized design with baited traps. A...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of tropical ecology 2017-09, Vol.33 (5), p.345-355
Main Authors: Santos, Jessie Pereira dos, Iserhard, Cristiano Agra, Carreira, Junia Yasmin Oliveira, Freitas, André Victor Lucci
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Biodiversity
Butterflies & moths
Canopies
Design standards
Dry season
Feeding
Forests
Fruits
Herbivores
High temperature
Hypotheses
Insects
Lepidoptera
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Rainfall
Rainy season
Seasonal variations
Seasons
Species
Strata
Studies
Tropical forests
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Summary:To address how seasonality affects the richness and abundance of tropical insects, we compared the canopy and understorey communities of fruit-feeding butterflies in a seasonal Atlantic forest in south-eastern Brazil. Butterflies were sampled over 1 y using a standardized design with baited traps. A total of 2047 individuals in 69 species were recorded (1415 in the canopy, 632 in the understorey). Clear differences were found between canopy and understorey, with significantly higher butterfly abundances in the canopy. We observed two marked peaks of abundance and richness in both strata; one at the transition from dry to the wet seasons, and the other at the transition from wet to dry seasons. We found lower species turnover throughout the year in the canopy. We interpret this as evidence that temperature is more important than rainfall in explaining the yearly variation of abundance in vertical strata. The higher temperatures found in the canopy may allow butterflies to maintain activity in this stratum all year round, whereas the understorey is subject to colder temperatures, thus presenting a higher species turnover. These results improve our understanding of diversity gradients between evergreen and seasonal tropical forests, allowing insights into how climate and beta diversity gradients interact.
ISSN:0266-4674
1469-7831
DOI:10.1017/S0266467417000323