Contrasting the distribution of butterflies and termites in plantations and tropical forests

0475530 - BC 2018 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Basset, Yves - Barrios, H. - Ramirez, J. A. - Lopez, Y. - Coronado, J. - Perez, F. - Arizala, S. - Bobadilla, R. - Leponce, M.
Contrasting the distribution of butterflies and termites in plantations and tropical forests.
Biodiversity and Conservation. Roč. 26, č. 1 (2017), s. 151-176. ISSN 0960-3115. E-ISSN 1572-9710
R&D Projects: GA ČR GB14-36098G
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : Barro Colorado Island * Cedro espino * faunal turnover
OECD category: Ecology
Impact factor: 2.828, year: 2017
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-016-1231-6

In the tropics vast areas of natural forests are being converted into plantations. The magnitude of the resulting loss in arthropod biodiversity and associated ecosystem services represents a significant topic of research. In this study we contrasted the abundance, species richness and faunal turnover of butterflies, resident butterflies (i.e., whose host plants were ascertained to occur in the habitats studied) and termites between small (average 4.3 ha) 20+ year old exotic plantations (teak and Terminalia), native plantations (Cedro espino), and an old growth forest in Panama. We used Pollard walks and manual search to quantify the abundance or occurrence of butterflies and termites, respectively. In 2014 we observed 4610 butterflies representing 266 species and 108 termite encounters (out of 160 quadrats) representing 15 species. Butterflies were more abundant and diverse in plantations than in the forest, whereas this pattern was opposite for resident butterflies and termites. There was marked faunal turnover between plantations and forest. We conclude that (a) the magnitude of faunal changes between forest and plantations is less drastic for termites than for butterflies, (b) resident butterfly species are more impacted by the conversion of forest to plantations than all butterflies, including transient species, and (c) species richness does not necessarily decrease in the series forest > native > exotic plantations. Whereas there are advantages of studying more tractable taxa such as butterflies, the responses of such taxa can be highly unrepresentative of other invertebrate groups responsible for different ecological services.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0272235