The importance of small scales to the fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages in a fragmented landscape

Author(s)

Ribeiro, Danilo Bandini ^{[1, 2]} ; Batista, Romulo ^[3] ; Prado, Paulo I. ^[4] ; Brown, Jr., Keith S. ^[1] ; Freitas, Andre V. L. ^{[1, 5, 6]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Dept Biol Anim, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, Programa Posgrad Ecol, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[3] Ctr Estadual Unidades Conservac Amazonas, Dept Pesquisa & Monitoramento Ambiental, BR-69050030 Manaus, Amazonas - Brazil

^[4] Univ Nacl Estadual Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Ecol Geral, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[5] Univ Estadual Campinas, Dept Biol Anim, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[6] Univ Estadual Campinas, Museu Zool, Inst Biol, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION; v. 21, n. 3, p. 811-827, MAR 2012.
• Web of Science Citations: 39

Abstract

Nowadays 37% of Earth's ice-free land is composed by fragments of natural habitats settled in anthropogenic biomes. Therefore, we have to improve our knowledge about distribution of organisms in remnants and to understand how the matrix affects these distributions. In this way, the present study aims to describe the structure of the butterfly assemblages and determined how richness and abundance are influenced by the scale of the surrounding vegetation. General linear models were used to investigate how the type and scale of vegetation cover within a radius of 100-2,000 m around the sampling point explained butterfly diversity. After sampling ten forest fragments we found 6,488 individuals of 73 species. For all clades tested null models explain the species richness at the fragments better than other models when we include the effect of butterfly abundance as a covariate. Abundance of Satyrini, Brassolini, and Biblidinae were best predicted by small scales (100-200 m), and large scales were more suited for Charaxinae. The presence of pasture best explains the abundance of all groups except Charaxinae, which was best explained by early-regrowth forest. The abundance of different species and groups are correlated with different kinds of vegetation cover. However, we demonstrate that small scales (100-200 m) are more effective at explaining the abundance of most butterflies. These results strongly suggest that efforts to preserve insect diversity in forest fragments should take in account the immediate surroundings of the fragment, and not only the regional landscape as a whole. In general, actions of people living near forest fragments are as important to fruit-feeding butterflies as large scale actions are, with the former being seldom specified in management plans or conservation policies. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 03/11697-0 - Effects of anthropic activity and forest fragmentation on the lepidoptera guild
• Grantee: Danilo Bandini Ribeiro
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• FAPESP's process: 98/05101-8 - Lepidoptera of the State of São Paulo: diversity, distribution, resources, and use for analysis and environmental monitoring
• Grantee: Keith Spalding Brown Junior
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 02/08558-6 - Biodiversity and social processes in São Luiz do Paraitinga, São Paulo
• Grantee: Paulo Inácio de Knegt López de Prado
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 11/50225-3 - Natural history, phylogeny and conservation of Neotropical Lepidoptera
• Grantee: André Victor Lucci Freitas
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Regular Research Grants