Temporal Variation in Macro-Moth Abundance and Species Richness in a Lowland Fijian Forest

Tikoca, Siteri; Hodge, Simon; Pene, Sarah; Clayton, J. S.; Tuiwawa, Marika; Brodie, Gilianne D.

doi:10.2984/70.4.5

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The highest species richness of particular tropical lepidopteran groups was detected in different seasons: high‐dry season for Sphingidae (Cruz‐Neto et al, ; Owen, ), geometrids (Hilt et al, ) and butterflies (Aduse‐Poku et al, ; DeVries et al, ; Grøtan et al, ; Ribeiro et al, ), transition from wet to dry seasons for butterflies (Valtonen et al, ), and wet season for butterflies (Checa, Rodriguez, Willmott, & Liger, ; DeVries et al, ; Devries & Walla, ). No specific seasonal patterns of species richness were revealed for Sphingidae (Beck & Linsenmair, ), Arctiinae (Hilt et al, ), butterflies (Larsen, Riley, & Cornes, ; Molleman, Kop, Brakefield, Vries, & Zwaan, ; Owen & Chanter, ), pyraloids (Fiedler & Schulze, ; Schulze & Fiedler, ), and macro‐heterocerans (Tikoca et al, ). An overwhelming majority of these group‐specific patterns came from single‐taxon studies carried out in different tropical localities or even areas, often with different seasonality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flying between raindrops: Strong seasonal turnover of several Lepidoptera groups in lowland rainforests of Mount Cameroon

Maicher

Sáfián

Murkwe

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Although seasonality in the tropics is often less pronounced than in temperate areas, tropical ecosystems show seasonal dynamics as well. Nevertheless, individual tropical insects’ phenological patterns are still poorly understood, especially in the Afrotropics. To fill this gap, we investigated biodiversity patterns of Lepidoptera communities at three rainforest localities in the foothills of Mount Cameroon, West Africa, one of the wettest places in the world. Our multitaxa approach covered six lepidopteran groups (fruit‐feeding butterflies and moths, the families Sphingidae, Saturniidae, and Eupterotidae, and the subfamily Arctiinae of Erebidae) with diverse life strategies. We sampled adults of the focal groups in three distinct seasons. Our sampling included standardized bait trapping (80 traps exposed for 10 days per locality and season) and attraction by light (six full nights per locality and season). Altogether, our dataset comprised 20,576 specimens belonging to 559 (morpho)species of the focal groups. The biodiversity of Lepidoptera generally increased in the high‐dry season, and either increased (fruit‐feeding moths, Arctiinae, Saturniidae) or decreased (butterflies, Sphingidae) in the transition to the wet season in particular groups. Simultaneously, we revealed a strong species turnover of fruit‐feeding Lepidoptera and Arctiinae among the seasons, indicating relatively high specialization of these communities for particular seasons. Such temporal specialization can make the local communities of butterflies and moths especially sensitive to the expected seasonal perturbations caused by the global change. Because of the key role of Lepidoptera across trophic levels, such changes in their communities could strengthen this impact on entire tropical ecosystems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flying between raindrops: Strong seasonal turnover of several Lepidoptera groups in lowland rainforests of Mount Cameroon

Maicher

Sáfián

Murkwe

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…The study by Waqa-Sakiti et al (2014) also highlighted seasonal differences in species occurrence and relative abundance. Although sampling in the current study was active over most months of the year, there was no single location that was studied continuously over a 12 month period to give a higher chance of recording species with narrow adult flight periods (Tikoca et al 2016b).…”

Section: Sapling Effortmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of long-horn beetles (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera) within the Fijian archipelago

Waqa-Sakiti¹,

Hodge²,

Winder³

2018

S. Pac. J. Nat. App. Sci.

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Long-horn beetles (Family: Cerambycidae) in Fiji consist of 124 described species within 45 genera, of which 110 (88.7%) species are considered endemic. Despite their conservation value, ecological significance and cultural importance, little scientific research has been conducted on the taxonomy or ecology of Cerambycidae in Fiji. This biogeographical study surveyed Cerambycidae by Malaise trapping on ten Fijian Islands. A total of 438 individuals and 44 species of Cerambycidae were recorded. Thirty three of the species collected are endemic to Fiji; three other species are native and eight species are new records for Fiji and/or new species. Twenty seven species were recorded from only one island and 20 species were recorded only as singletons. There was an expected significant relationship between the number of species collected on an island and the number of sampling events. The highest number of species, 23, was recorded on the largest island, Viti Levu, followed by Gau with 13 species and Vanua Levu and Kadavu with 12 species each. There was a positive relationship between species richness and island size but this was lost if the effect of sample number was taken into account. The results indicate that the species-area relationship may hold for Fijian Cerambycidae, but additional collecting events, over more of the annual cycle, and involving multiple collecting methods may be required to fully catalogue the current Fijian fauna.

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Temporal Variation in Macro-Moth Abundance and Species Richness in a Lowland Fijian Forest

Cited by 2 publications

References 26 publications

Flying between raindrops: Strong seasonal turnover of several Lepidoptera groups in lowland rainforests of Mount Cameroon

Flying between raindrops: Strong seasonal turnover of several Lepidoptera groups in lowland rainforests of Mount Cameroon

Distribution of long-horn beetles (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera) within the Fijian archipelago

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