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

Autor(es)

dos Santos, Jessie Pereira ; Iserhard, Cristiano Agra ; Oliveira Carreira, Junia Yasmin ; Lucci Freitas, Andre Victor

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY; v. 33, p. 11-pg., 2017-09-01.

Resumo

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. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 11/50225-3 - História natural, filogenia e conservação de lepidópteros neotropicais
• Beneficiário: André Victor Lucci Freitas
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 13/50297-0 - Dimensions US-BIOTA São Paulo: integrando disciplinas para a predição da biodiversidade da Floresta Atlântica no Brasil
• Beneficiário: Cristina Yumi Miyaki
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Temático
• Processo FAPESP: 11/08433-8 - Padrões de diversidade e estrutura filogenética das comunidades de borboletas na Mata Atlântica
• Beneficiário: Cristiano Agra Iserhard
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado