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Functional composition and phenology of fruit-feeding butterflies in a fragmented landscape: variation of seasonality between habitat specialists

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Abstract

For butterflies, tolerance to the matrix may be an important criterion of habitat occurrence in fragmented landscapes. Here we examine the relative effects of habitat fragmentation and the surrounding agricultural matrix on the functional composition of fruit-feeding butterflies of the Atlantic rain forest in southeastern Brazil. Generalized linear models were used to detect the effects of landscape metrics on butterfly richness and abundance of the total assemblage and functional groups. Circular statistics were used to analyze the patterns of monthly abundance of the total assemblage and functional groups in the forest remnants and the surrounding matrices. In total, 650 butterflies representing 57 species were captured; species composition differed significantly between the forest fragments and the surrounding matrices. We recorded 22 forest specialists, 18 matrix specialists, 11 common species with matrix preference and six common species with forest preference. Forest connectivity favored the richness of forest specialists, while habitat fragmentation enhances the richness and abundance of matrix-tolerant species. Circular analysis revealed that forest specialists were more abundant in the rainy season while matrix-tolerant species proliferated in the dry season. Although maintaining connectivity of forest fragments may increase the mobility and dispersion of forest species, our results showed that landscape fragmentation modify butterfly assemblage by promoting an increase of matrix tolerant species with detriment of forest specialists.

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Acknowledgments

We thank André Freitas for their great help in identifying the butterflies and making possible the access to the collections of the University of Campinas (Unicamp). Karina L. Silva-Brandão, Martin Pareja and the anonymous referee made valuable suggestions in the manuscript. We also thank Alexandre M. Dos Santos (PIBICT/Fapemig) and Eduardo Loureiro Abreu who helped throughout the field work. This research was financially supported by a grant from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior to M. Monteiro. The project was supported by FAPEMIG/Vale Company (RDP-00104-10), as well as CNPq (472250/2010-8).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciências da Natureza, Universidade Federal de Alfenas (UNIFAL-MG), Alfenas, Minas Gerais, 37130-000, Brazil

    Mariana M. Brito, Mariana Raniero, Érica Hasui, Flávio N. Ramos & Alberto Arab

  2. Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, 79070-900, Brazil

    Danilo B. Ribeiro

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  1. Mariana M. Brito
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  2. Danilo B. Ribeiro
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Correspondence to Alberto Arab.

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Brito, M.M., Ribeiro, D.B., Raniero, M. et al. Functional composition and phenology of fruit-feeding butterflies in a fragmented landscape: variation of seasonality between habitat specialists. J Insect Conserv 18, 547–560 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-014-9650-8

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