scholarly journals Variation in butterfly diversity and unique species richness along different habitats in Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary, Tripura, northeast India

Check List ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joydeb Majumder ◽  
Rahul Lodh ◽  
B. K. Agarwala

Quantification of butterfly diversity and species richness is of prime importance for evaluating the status of protected areas. Permanent line transect counts were used to record species richness and abundance of butterfly communities of different habitat types in Trishna wildlife sanctuary. A total of 1005 individuals representing 59 species in 48 genera belonging to five families were recorded in the present study. Of these, 23 species belonged to the family Nymphalidae and accounted for 38.98% of the total species and 45.20% of the total number of individuals. Mature secondary mixed moist deciduous forest showed the maximum diversity and species richness, while exotic grassland showed minimum diversity and species richness. Out of 59 species, 31 are new records for Tripura state, while 21 are unique species and nine are listed in the threatened category. This study revealed that mature secondary forests are more important for butterfly communities, while exotic grasslands have a negative impact on species composition.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suman Attiwilli ◽  
Nitin Ravikanthachari ◽  
Krushnamegh Kunte

Long-term monitoring programmes have revealed catastrophic population declines that are contributing to biodiversity loss. These discoveries and the underlying programmes have been possible because of standardised methods of counting butterflies. Butterflies have been monitored using modified line transects, known in butterfly monitoring schemes as Pollard walks. However, line transects are not feasible in many tropical and mountainous habitats. To tackle this problem, we devised time-constrained (30-min) counts and compared butterfly diversity as estimated through this method with that estimated through line transects (500 m, 10 min) in three tropical habitats in India (evergreen forest, dry deciduous forest and an urban woodland). We tested the efficacy of the two methods to sample species richness and abundance, as well as numbers of rare, endemic and specialist butterflies. We observed greater species richness, and more species of habitat specialists and endemics per sample in time-constrained counts when compared with line transects in evergreen forest, but not in the other two habitats. Thus, time-constrained counts were more efficient at detecting species than line transects in the species-rich evergreen habitat. Apart from this difference, the two sampling methods captured similar levels of species richness and other measures of diversity. Time-constrained counts may thus be viewed as a feasible alternative to line transects to carry out butterfly surveys in tropical and mountainous landscapes. This method is particularly suited for biodiversity assessments and mapping involving citizen science initiatives, which has considerable potential in populous and tech-ready countries such as India.


Author(s):  
S Paria ◽  
S Ghosh ◽  
PC Mardaraj ◽  
PH Mallick ◽  
SK Chakraborty

The present communication aims to highlight the trend of distribution of butterfly species in and around the protected forest areas of Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS), characterized with habitat heterogeneity with respect to vegetational assemblages, soil profiles and water bodies in comparison to butterfly diversity in other parts of India and neighbouring country. Butterfly diversity and distribution along with the seasonal gradients across three landscape areas, viz., LSE1, LSE2 and LSE3 were recorded at Kuldiha, Odisha, India using line transect. The method has generated baseline information relating not only to diversity, but also synchronization with vegetative growth coupled with phenological periodicity, and habitat heterogeneity of this aesthetically celebrated faunal component in a tropical deciduous evergreen forest landscape. A total of 95 species belonging to 63 genera and 5 families was encountered throughout the whole study period (Winter, 2015 to Summer, 2018) excepting the monsoon months. Post monsoon lepidopteran assemblage pattern was quite different from that of the pre-monsoon. Maximum diversity was observed in the LSE2, i.e. Mixed forest type exposed to certain levels of anthropogenic interactions. Present studies are considerably contribute to the ecobiology of the studied flagship species in particular and as a step towards holistic conservation strategy of an ecopotential sanctuary in the tropical country, India in general.J. Biodivers. Conserv. Bioresour. Manag. 2018, 4(1): 93-104


Author(s):  
Katherine C Kral-O’Brien ◽  
Adrienne K Antonsen ◽  
Torre J Hovick ◽  
Ryan F Limb ◽  
Jason P Harmon

Abstract Many methods are used to survey butterfly populations, with line transect and area surveys being prominent. Observers are typically limited to search within 5 or 10 m from the line, while observers are unrestricted in larger specified search regions in area surveys. Although methods differ slightly, the selection is often based on producing defendable data for conservation, maximizing data quality, and minimizing effort. To guide method selection, we compared butterfly surveys using 1) line versus area methods and 2) varying width transects (5 m, 10 m, or unrestricted) using count data from surveys in North Dakota from 2015 to 2018. Between line and area surveys, we detected more individuals with area surveys, even when accounting for effort. However, both methods accumulated new species at similar rates. When comparing transect methodology, we detected nearly 60% more individuals and nine more species when transect width increased from 5 m to unrestricted, despite similar effort across methodology. Overall, we found line surveys slightly less efficient at detecting individuals, but they collected similar species richness to area surveys when accounting for effort. Additionally, line surveys allow the use of unrestricted-width transects with distance sampling procedures, which were more effective at detecting species and individuals while providing a means to correct count data over the same transect length. Methods that reduce effort and accurately depict communities are especially important for conservation when long-term datasets are unavailable.


2009 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 82-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daya Ram Bhusal ◽  
Bhaiya Khanal

Study on butterfly diversity at Churiya range of eastern Nepal in winter and spring was conducted during December 1999 to May 2000. Collection sites ranged from < 250 to >1150 m in altitude where a total of 40 species of butterflies belonging to 28 genera and eight families were recorded. Both of seasonal and altitudinal effects on the abundance of butterflies were noticed in the area. Species richness increased with upcoming warmer spring days at low and midland areas while decreased in higher elevations.Key words: Altitudinal; diversity; seasonal; abundance; species richnessJournal of Natural History Museum Vol. 23, 2008 Page 82-87


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-47
Author(s):  
Gazi Mosharof Hossain ◽  
ABM Enayet Hossain

Effect of exotic tree plantation on floristic composition and phytodiversity status of Rema-Kalenga wildlife sanctuary of Bangladesh was studied. A total of 309 vascular plant species under 245 genera belonging to 83 families were found to constitute the vascular flora of the studied area. The maximum number of species (298) with the highest Shannon-Weiner diversity index value (3.882±0.090) was recorded from natural forest, which was followed by 194 and 165 plant species with 3.441±0.205 and 3.398±0.103 diversity index values recorded from Tectona and Acacia plantation sites respectively. The minimum number of plant species (142) with the lowest diversity index value (2.999±0.152) was recorded from Eucalyptus plantation site. The collected data on the selected forest sites of Rema-Kalenga wildlife sanctuary showed the trends of gradual decrease in floristic composition and phytodivesity status of three plantation sites (Tectona to Acacia to Eucalyptus) in respect to natural forest, which indicated that exotic tree plantations might have negative impact on floristic composition and phytodiversity of this semi-tropical forest area and the fast-growing exotic tree plantation of Acacia and Eucalyptus should be avoided for sustainable development of Rema-Kalenga wildlife sanctuary.Jahangirnagar University J. Biol. Sci. 3(2): 33-47, 2014 (December)


Web Ecology ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Elek ◽  
T. Magura ◽  
T. Tóthmérész

Abstract. The impacts of non-native Norway spruce plantation on the abundance and species richness of carabids were studied in the Bükk National Park in Hungary, central Europe. Pitfall catches from recently established (5 yr old), young (15 yr after planting), middle-aged (30 yr after planting), old Norway spruce Picea abies plantation (50 yr after planting), and a native submontane beech forest (Fagetum sylvaticae) as a control stand were compared. Our results showed that deciduous forest species decreased significantly in abundance in the plantations, and appeared in high abundance only in the native beech forest. Furthermore, open habitat species increased remarkably in abundance in the recently established plantation. Carabids were significantly more abundant and species rich in the native forest than in the plantations, while differences were not significant among the plantations. Multiple regression between the abundance and species richness of carabids and twelve environmental measurements showed that pH of the soil, herb cover and density of the carabids’ prey had a significant effect in determining abundance and species richness. Our results showed that plantation of non-native Norway spruce species had a detrimental effect on the composition of carabid communities and no regeneration could be observed during the growth of plantations even 50 yr after the establishment. This emphasises the importance of an active nature management practice to facilitate the recolonization of the native species.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (15) ◽  
pp. 8272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Girish Gogoi ◽  
Vipin Parkash

<p>Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary is comprised of five distinct compartments.  A total of 138 species of gilled mushrooms belonging to 48 genera, 23 families, five orders of the class Agaricomycetes, division Basidiomycota, have been collected and analyzed. The order Agaricales was was found with the highest number of species (113), followed by Russulales (14), Polyporales (5), Cantharellales (4) and Boletales (2). The species <em>Coprinellus disseminatus </em>and <em>Megacollybia rodmani</em> have shown the highest (8.26) and the lowest density (0.05), respectively.  A total of 24 species, e.g., <em>Termitomyces albuminosus, Marasmius curreyi, Marasmiellus candidus, Leucocoprinus medioflavus, Mycena leaiana, Hygrocybe miniata, Collybia chrysoropha, Gymnopus confluens</em> were common with frequency percentage of 11.9, whereas <em>Megacollybia rodmani</em> with less frequency percentage (2.4) was found only in few quadrates of the sanctuary.  The highly abundant species were <em>Termitomyces medius</em> (91.7) and <em>Coprinellus disseminatus </em>(86.8), and less abundant species were <em>Psilocybe wayanadensis</em> (1.0) and <em>Lepiota</em> sp. (1.0) in the study site.  The order of the species richness index (<em>R</em>) compartment wise was 2&gt;3&gt;4&gt;5&gt;1. Both the Shannon diversity index and Simpson diversity index of agarics was maximum (1.88, 0.98) in compartment 2, whereas minimum (1.72, 0.95) in compartment 1 and 5, respectively.  Moreover, the compartment 2 was found very much similar with compartment 3 and very less similar with compartment 1.</p><div> </div>


2000 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. CHIARELLO

A survey of mammals and birds was carried out in a semi-deciduous forest fragment of 150 ha located in a zone of intensive agriculture in Ribeirão Preto, State of São Paulo, south-eastern Brazil. Line transect sampling was used to census mammals and birds during six days, totalling 27.8 km of trails and 27.8 hours of observation. Twenty mammal species were confirmed in the area (except bats and small mammals), including rare or endangered species, such as the mountain lion (Puma concolor), the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), and the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). The brown capuchin monkey (Cebus apella) and the black-tufted-ear marmoset (Callithrix penicillata) were found frequently, suggesting high population density in the fragment. Regarding the avifauna, 49 bird species were recorded, most of them typical of open areas or forest edges. Some confirmed species, however, are becoming increasingly rare in the region, as for example the muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) and the toco toucan (Ramphastos toco). The results demonstrate that forest fragment of this size are refuges for native fauna in a region dominated almost exclusively by sugar-cane plantations. Besides faunal aspects, the conservation of these fragments is of great importance for the establishment of studies related to species preservation in the long term, including reintroduction and translocation projects, as well as studies related to genetic health of isolated populations.


2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koustubh Sharma ◽  
Raghunandan Singh Chundawat ◽  
Joanna Van Gruisen ◽  
Asad Rafi Rahmani

Abstract:At the landscape level, the four-horned antelope is confined to tropical dry deciduous forests and within these, their distribution is patchy. Various factors have been proposed as determinants for their patchy distribution within landscapes, but none provided an adequate explanation. We hypothesized that availability of a constant supply of forage influenced the species distribution. We found that the four-horned antelope mainly fed on fruits and flowers, and that a total of 60% of the tree species in Panna Tiger Reserve bore fruits at different times of the year. High tree species richness in habitat patches was considered a surrogate for constant supply of forage for the four-horned antelope. Data from 547 sighting locations between 2002 and 2006 and six spatial layers were analysed using maximum entropy to produce a probability distribution model for the four-horned antelope in Panna Tiger Reserve. Our model predicted that habitat patches summing up to only 9.5% of the 543 km2 of Panna Tiger Reserve had high probability of distribution (>0.5) of four-horned antelope. Although all variables contributed to the distribution model of the four-horned antelope, explanatory power was highest for tree species richness within habitat patches. The distribution of four-horned antelope within tropical dry deciduous forests can be treated as an indicator of high tree diversity and hence habitat quality.


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