Effects of fires on butterfly assemblages in lowland dipterocarp forest in East Kalimantan

Abstract

The post-fire butterfly fauna in lowland dipterocarp forest of the Bukit Soeharto Education Forest (BSEF), East Kalimantan, Indonesia, was assessed during the period November 1998-April 2000 by means of consecutive Malaise trap samples, with supplementary field observations for March-April 1999. A total of 514 butterflies belonging to 61 species and representing six families were caught in the traps. Melanitis leda (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae), Charaxes bernardus (Nymphalidae: Charaxinae), and Danaus genutia (Nymphalidae: Danainae) were the species most frequently caught (60, 52 and 47 individuals, respectively), representing 31% of the total. These three species are generalists and "disturbance indicators" for tropical rainforest, being characteristic of disturbed or secondary forests, being distributed widely, and having larvae that feed on a wide range of host plants. In contrast, other species, such as Trogonoptera brookiana and Troides amphrysus, were recorded before the fires but were not recorded again afterwards. The pre-and post-fire butterfly fauna of East Kalimantan were compared on the basis of butterfly specimens deposited in the Tropical Rain Forest Research Center that were collected in and around the Bukit Soeharto Education Forest before the fires (1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995). On the basis of the post-fire survey, based on Malaise trap samples and field observations, only 43% of the butterfly species (not including Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae) were confirmed to have persisted. The data suggest that refugia that are not affected by fire are necessary for the conservation of specialist butterflies, as well as many other forms of wildlife.

Arthropods as bioindicators of sustainable forest management, with a focus on plantation forests

“…Since butterflies are often associated with old-growth woodlands, forest edges, and seminatural grassland habitats, they indicate the importance of habitat preservation for conserving regional biodiversity (Kitahara, 2004;Halder et al, 2008). In Southeast Asian tropical rain forests, Hirowatari et al (2007) demonstrated that three generalist butterfly species, Melanitis leda, Charaxes bernardus, and Danaus genutia, could be used as disturbance indicators after fire.…”

Macromoth community structure along a 95‐year post‐harvest chronosequence in managed forests of northwest Washington State (U.S.A.), with comparison to old growth forest communities

“…Overall, the shift toward reduced dominance by generalists with increasing stand age may be an indication of an increase in niche diversity and stability with stand age, possibly from changes in plant diversity and habitat complexity (Ober, 2007). The greater dominance of generalists in recently disturbed habitats may be attributable to their broad host plant tolerances enabling them to exploit a greater proportion of resources in rapidly changing environments (Hirowatari et al, 2007).…”

“…We hypothesized that the relative abundance of host plant specialists would increase with stand age among previously logged sites and be highest in old growth stands, with the opposite pattern for generalists. These hypotheses are based on ecological theory predicting a higher proportion of specialist species (which are often numerically rare) in unlogged forests (reviewed in Kitching et al, 2000), the tendency for species assemblages in different successional stages to be unique (Schowalter, 1995;Summerville & Crist, 2002;Hopp et al, 2010), and because variability in plant community composition in early successional environs should favour dietary generalists (Hirowatari et al, 2007).…”

Recovery of indigenous butterfly community following control of invasive alien plants in a tropical island’s wet forests

“…Lawton et al 1998). In tropical forests, many studies using butterflies have assessed impacts of land use changes such as forest transformation to agricultural land (Harvey et al 2006;Lien and Yuan 2003), silviculture (Stork et al 2003), selective logging (Cleary 2004;Hamer et al 2003), habitat fragmentation (Uehara-Prado et al 2007;Bossart et al 2006) or fires (Hirowatari et al 2007;Cleary and Mooers 2006). However, rarely have the impacts of alien species invasions on butterflies been considered.…”