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Temporal variation in abundance and diversity of butterflies in Bornean rain forests: opposite impacts of logging recorded in different seasons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2005

K. C. Hamer
Affiliation:
Earth Biosphere Institute, University of Leeds, UK
J. K. Hill
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of York, UK
N. Mustaffa
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of York, UK Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
S. Benedick
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of York, UK Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
T. N. Sherratt
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
V. K. Chey
Affiliation:
Forest Research Centre, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia
M. Maryati
Affiliation:
Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

We used traps baited with fruit to examine how the temporal variation of butterflies within primary forest in Sabah, Borneo differed between species. In addition, we compared patterns of temporal variation in primary and selectively logged forest, and we tested the hypothesis that selective logging has different recorded impacts on species diversity of adults during the wet monsoon period and the drier remaining half of the year. Species of Satyrinae and Morphinae had significantly less-restricted flight periods than did species of Nymphalinae and Charaxinae, which were sampled mainly during the drier season, especially in primary forest. Species diversity of adults was significantly higher during the drier season in primary forest, but did not differ between seasons in logged forest. As a consequence, logging had opposite recorded impacts on diversity during wetter and drier seasons: primary forest had significantly higher diversity than logged forest during the drier season but significantly lower diversity than logged forest during the wetter monsoon season. The results of this study have important implications for the assessment of biodiversity in tropical rain forests, particularly in relation to habitat disturbance: short-term assessments that do not take account of seasonal variation in abundance are likely to produce misleading results, even in regions where the seasonal variation in rainfall is not that great.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

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