Fruit-feeding butterflies in edge-dominated habitats: community structure,species persistence and cascade effect

As old-growth forests are converted into edge-affected habitats, a substantial proportion of tropical biodiversity is potentially threatened. Here, we examine a comprehensive set of community-level attributes of fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages inhabiting edge-affected habitats in a fragmented Atlantic forest landscape devoted to sugar cane production. We also explored whether the consequences of habitat loss and fragmentation can interact and cause cascading ecosystem changes, with the pervasive simplification of tree assemblages inhabiting edge-dominated habitats, altering fruit-feeding butterfly persistence. Butterflies were sampled in three forest habitats: small fragments, forest edges and patches of forest interior of a primary forest fragment. Assemblage attributes, including taxonomic composition, correlated to some patch (patch size) and landscape (such as forest cover) metrics as well as habitat structure (tree density and richness). Fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages in the forest interior differed from those in small fragments due to an increased abundance of edge-specialist species. On the other hand, several forest-dependent species were missing in both small fragments and forest edges. Our results suggest that edge-affected habitats dominated by pioneer tree species support taxonomically distinct assemblages, including the presence of disturbance-adapted species, and butterfly community structure is highly sensitive to fragmentation- and plant-related variables, such as forest cover and pioneer tree species. In this way, while the establishment of human-modified landscapes probably results in the local extirpation of forest-dependent species, it allows the persistence of disturbance-adapted species. Thus, forest-dependent species conservation and the plant–animal interaction webs they support could be improved by retaining a significant amount of core forest habitat.     

Linear edge effects on liana and tree communities in two tropical forest ecosystems in Ghana

The study determined linear edge effects on liana and tree community assemblages in moist semi-deciduous (Afram Headwaters Forest Reserve) and upland evergreen (Tano Offin Forest Reserve) forests in Ghana. Fifteen plots (20 × 20 m²) were randomly set up at each habitat in the forests: edge habitat (0–40 m) and interior habitat (≥500 m). Lianas (diameter at 1.30 m from rooting base ≥1 cm) and trees (diameter at breast height, dbh ≥5 cm) were identified and enumerated in the plots. In the forest ecosystems, liana and tree species composition differed significantly between the two habitats. Liana and tree diversity did not differ significantly between edge and interior habitats. Nevertheless, edge habitat in moist semi-deciduous forest supported significantly higher liana abundance and basal area than its interior habitat, whereas edge habitat in upland evergreen forest harboured significantly lower liana basal area than its corresponding interior habitat. Edge habitat in moist semi-deciduous and upland evergreen forests had significantly lower tree abundance and basal area, respectively, than interior habitat. The results suggest that overall, linear edge effects on liana and tree assemblages were more pronounced in moist semi-deciduous forest than upland evergreen forest. Lianas exhibited dominance over trees in edge habitat within moist semi-deciduous forest, implying that they can have serious implications on tree diversity and ecosystem functioning in the forest. As our study is the first of its kind in the tropics with respect to edge type and forest ecosystems studied, our findings can contribute towards edge theory development.     

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

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.     

Fruit‐feeding Butterfly Communities are Influenced by Restoration Age in Tropical Forests

Currently, a large‐scale restoration project aims to restore around 15 million hectares of Atlantic Forest in Brazil. This will increase forest cover and connectivity among remnant sites as well as restore environmental services. Currently, studies on recovery of fauna in restored areas of the Atlantic Forest are practically nonexistent. To address this knowledge vacuum, our study compares diversity patterns of fruit‐feeding butterflies in three forest areas with different restoration ages (11, 22, and 54 years), and uses a native forest area as reference. Results showed butterfly communities in maturing restored areas becoming more similar to the ones found in the native forest, with an increase in the proportional abundance of forest species, and a decrease of edge and grassland species. Moreover, we found a higher diversity among sites at the intermediate restoration age, with a community composed of both grassland and forest species. Butterfly species composition differed significantly among sites, showing interesting patterns of potential species replacement over time. Our results indicate that, although restored sites were located in a fragmented landscape, they provide suitable habitats for recolonization by fruit‐feeding butterfly assemblages. Hence, restored areas can be considered important habitat for forest animal species, increasing local biodiversity and, possibly, restoring some of the ecosystem services provided by them.     

The effects of disturbance on forest butterflies using two methods of sampling in Trinidad

The butterfly assemblages of pairs of forest habitats, differing in disturbance level, within the Victoria Mayaro reserve of South-East Trinidad, are described using walk-and-count transects and canopy and understorey fruit traps. The concurrent use of these two butterfly censusing techniques, revealed major but conflicting differences in species accumulation rates under different disturbance conditions. The disturbed evergreen habitat had the significantly highest accumulation rate from walk-and-count data but the significantly lowest from fruit trap data. This reflects the specificity of much of the fruit-feeding guild for closed canopy forest. Disturbed habitats were found to lack a distinct canopy fauna. These results are discussed in light of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Within a region of forest, butterflies were found to be more characteristic of a disturbance level than of a particular forest type, lending weight to the belief that butterfly faunas can be used as bioindicators of forest disturbance. Several restricted geographic range species were not adversely affected by forest disturbance, at these levels of disturbance. The butterfly censuses in this study suggest that the optimal strategy for safeguarding butterfly species richness under natural forest management regimes would be to maintain a mosaic of habitats that included areas of undisturbed primary forest and a network of other forest patches, that varied in management regime and level of disturbance.     

Conserving butterflies in fragmented plantation forests: are edge and interior habitats equally important?

Edge effects are increasing in forest-dominated landscapes worldwide, due to increased fragmentation by other land uses. Understanding how species respond to edges is therefore critical to define adequate conservation measures. We compared the relative importance of interior and edge habitats for butterflies in a landscape composed of even-aged pine plantations interspersed with semi-natural habitats. Butterfly assemblages were surveyed simultaneously at the edge and the interior of 68 patches belonging to four main habitat types: herbaceous firebreaks, clearcuts and young pine stands, older pine stands, and deciduous woodlands. Butterfly species richness was higher at edges than in interior habitats, especially for pine stands. Assemblage composition differed significantly between edge and interior habitats, except for firebreaks. Of the 23 most abundant butterfly species, seven were significantly more abundant in one or all edge habitat types, five in interior habitats, and 11 species showed no edge-interior preference. Modelling the presence of individual species in edge habitats revealed the importance of habitat variables such as the abundance of nectar and host-plants, but also of the abundance of the same species in the adjacent interior habitat. Moreover, our results suggest that most species use several, different habitat types to find supplementary or complementary resources, including micro-climatic refuges to escape hot temperatures during summer. The use of adjacent edge and interior habitats by butterflies is probably a key process in such mosaic landscapes and underlines the importance of landscape heterogeneity for butterfly conservation.     

Habitat fragmentation,EFN‐bearing trees and ant communities: Ecological cascades in Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil

Habitat fragmentation has a marked impact on the functional composition of tropical forest tree assemblages, and such change is likely to cascade through other trophic levels. Here, we investigate how habitat fragmentation affects extrafloral nectary (EFN)‐bearing plants and ant functional groups known to attend EFNs in a fragmented landscape of the Atlantic Forest. Extrafloral nectary‐bearing trees were identified in 50 0.1‐ha plots located in forest fragments, edge and interior patches. Ants were surveyed in 30 1‐m² litter samples in each of 17 forest fragments and in forest interior. Extrafloral nectary‐bearing plants accounted for 19.9% of individuals and 10.5% of species and included both pioneer and shade‐tolerant species similarly rich in the three habitat types. However, shade‐tolerant individuals accounted for >80% of EFN‐bearing plants in forest interior, compared with 2% in forest edge and 29% in fragments. Forest edge and fragment plots had a third fewer EFN‐bearing individuals and species compared with forest interior. This appeared to have important implications for local ant communities as the density of EFN‐bearing trees was the most important variable explaining the species richness of arboreal dominant ants. Our results show that plant loser–winner replacements promoted by forest fragmentation can cascade through higher trophic levels, with implications for forest dynamics and biodiversity conservation.     

Comparison of butterfly communities and abundances between marginal grasslands and conservation lands in the eastern Great Plains

The alteration and fragmentation of native tallgrass prairie in the Midwestern United States has created a need to identify other land types with the ability to support grassland butterfly species. This study examines butterfly usage of marginal grasslands, which consist of semi-natural grasslands existing within in a larger agricultural matrix, compared to grasslands managed for conservation of prairie species. Using generalized linear mixed models we analyzed how land purpose (marginal vs. conservation grasslands) affected butterfly abundance. We found grassland butterfly species to be significantly more common on conservation grasslands, whereas generalist species were significantly more common on marginal grasslands. Results of ordination analyses indicated that while many species used both types of habitats, butterfly species assemblages were distinct between habitat types and that edge to interior ratio and the floristic quality index of sites were important habitat characteristics driving this distinction. Within conservation grasslands we examined the relationship between butterfly abundance and the planting diversity used in restoring each site. We found higher diversity restorations hosted more individuals of butterflies considered habitat generalists, as well as species considered to be of conservation concern.     

Bioindicators of edge effects within Atlantic Forest remnants: Conservation implications in a threatened biodiversity hotspot

Aim

Deforestation of the Atlantic Forest of eastern Paraguay has been recent but extensive, resulting in a fragmented landscape highly influenced by forest edges. We examined edge effects on multiple dimensions of small mammalian diversity.

Location

Forest fragments of eastern Paraguayan Atlantic Forest.

Methods

We trapped small mammal species at different distances from the forest edge (DTE) in reserves and estimated multiple dimensions of diversity per site. Similarity analysis identified species clusters that best described the patterns of diversity across reserves. Multivariate ordination and linear mixed models were used to determine the influence of DTE on various dimensions of small mammal diversity.

Results

There was an increase in richness and abundance along a DTE gradient, and remnants with higher edge:area ratios showed higher richness and abundance, independent of remnant size. Species at edges were generalists, open-habitat species or exotic species (spillover effect). We found higher phylogenetic diversity and functional richness and divergence towards forest edges. Spillover of non-forest and invasive species best explained richness, generalist forest species best explained total abundance, abundance of Hylaeamys megacephalus best explained diversity and evenness metrics and the presence of Marmosa paraguayana best explained various phylogenetic diversity models. None of the models that included megafauna or social factors were shown to be important in explaining patterns as a function of DTE.

Main Conclusions

We found strong support for a spillover effect and mixed support for complementary resource use and enhanced habitat resources associated with ecotones. Generalists characterized edge assemblages but not all generalists were equivalent. Edges showed more phylogenetically and functionally distinct assemblages than the interior of remnants. There was a conservation of functional diversity; however, open-habitat species, habitat generalists and exotic species boosted diversity near forest edges. Mechanisms governing diversity along forest edges are complex; disentangling those mechanisms necessitates the use of multiple dimensions of diversity.     

Butterfly abundance and movements among prairie patches: the roles of habitat quality, edge, and forest matrix permeability

The spatial distribution of patchy insect populations is partly caused by behavioral patterns of insect movement that are influenced by habitat quality, isolation, and the permeability of the surrounding matrix. We recorded insect movements, abundance, and edge behaviors in two species of butterflies, the great-spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele F., Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) and the pearl crescent (Phyciodes tharos Drury, Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), inhabiting remnant prairies surrounded by a forest matrix in south-central Ohio. We also determined the number of forest matrix types present and recorded the permeability of the different types to butterfly movement. The great-spangled fritillary exhibited a relatively high number of interpatch movements, a higher abundance at patch edges, and a propensity to cross the prairie-forest edges, and the forest matrix had a high permeability to butterfly movement. The pearl crescent, in contrast, rarely crossed edge boundaries, moved infrequently among patches, and was more abundant within the patch interior and in patches with high host-plant and flower densities. There were three structurally different forest matrix types separating habitat patches, which in previous studies would have been classified as a single deciduous forest matrix. Butterfly movement and edge behaviors mechanistically interact with patch quality, isolation, and the matrix permeability to determine the spatial structure of these populations in fragmented habitats.     

Diversity and composition of fruit-feeding butterflies in tropical <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eucalyptus</Emphasis> plantations

Production landscapes are rarely considered as priority areas for biodiversity conservation in the tropics. Tree plantations have the potential to provide a conservation service in much of the humid tropics since they are rapidly increasing in extent and present less of a structural contrast with native vegetation than many more intensive agricultural land-uses. We used hierarchical partitioning to examine the factors that influence the value of large-scale Eucalyptus plantations for tropical fruit-feeding butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in the Brazilian Amazon. We focused on evaluating the importance of landscape versus stand-level factors in determining the diversity and composition of butterfly assemblages, and how butterfly-environment relationships vary within and between subfamilies of Nymphalidae. Native understorey vegetation richness had the strongest independent effect on the richness, abundance and composition of all fruit-feeding butterflies, as well as a subset of species that had been recorded in nearby primary forests. However, overall patterns were strongly influenced by the most abundant subfamily (Satyrinae), and vegetation richness was not related to the abundance of any other subfamily, or non-Satyrinae species, highlighting the importance of disaggregating the fruit-feeding Nymphalidae when examining butterfly-environment relationships. Our results suggest that plantations can help conserve a limited number of forest species, and serve to highlight the research that is necessary to understand better the relationship between fruit-feeding butterflies and environmental variables that are amenable to management.     

Species richness, composition and abundance of fruit-feeding butterflies in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: comparison between a fragmented and a continuous landscape

Aim  To evaluate frugivorous butterflies as indicators of forest disturbance in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.
Location  The study area is located in the municipality of Cotia, São Paulo State, south-eastern Brazil (23°35'−23°50' S, 46°45'−47°15' W).
Methods  Sampling was done at four sites inside a large forest block, the Morro Grande State Reserve, and in five forest fragments in an adjacent fragmented landscape. Butterflies were sampled with portable traps, baited with a fermented mixture of banana and sugar cane juice. Sampling was carried out during the period most favourable for the capture of frugivorous butterflies in south-eastern Brazil.
Results  All richness-related results indicated no effect of forest fragmentation on the frugivorous butterfly guild, concurring with the suggestion of appreciable resistance of Atlantic Forest butterflies to habitat modification. However, species composition discriminated between the two landscapes, indicating that fragmentation may have effects beyond simple species richness. When species were analysed individually, clear patterns of distribution emerged, with some species that were very abundant in the fragmented landscape being practically absent in the continuous landscape, and vice versa. This pattern seems consistent even for some subfamilies.
Main conclusion  Our findings support the usefulness of the frugivorous butterfly guild as a biological indicator of forest disturbance effects in one of the world's most threatened ecosystems.     

The importance of small scales to the fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages in a fragmented landscape

Nowadays 37% of Earth’s ice-free land is composed by fragments of natural habitats settled in anthropogenic biomes. Therefore, we have to improve our knowledge about distribution of organisms in remnants and to understand how the matrix affects these distributions. In this way, the present study aims to describe the structure of the butterfly assemblages and determined how richness and abundance are influenced by the scale of the surrounding vegetation. General linear models were used to investigate how the type and scale of vegetation cover within a radius of 100–2,000 m around the sampling point explained butterfly diversity. After sampling ten forest fragments we found 6,488 individuals of 73 species. For all clades tested null models explain the species richness at the fragments better than other models when we include the effect of butterfly abundance as a covariate. Abundance of Satyrini, Brassolini, and Biblidinae were best predicted by small scales (100–200 m), and large scales were more suited for Charaxinae. The presence of pasture best explains the abundance of all groups except Charaxinae, which was best explained by early-regrowth forest. The abundance of different species and groups are correlated with different kinds of vegetation cover. However, we demonstrate that small scales (100–200 m) are more effective at explaining the abundance of most butterflies. These results strongly suggest that efforts to preserve insect diversity in forest fragments should take in account the immediate surroundings of the fragment, and not only the regional landscape as a whole. In general, actions of people living near forest fragments are as important to fruit-feeding butterflies as large scale actions are, with the former being seldom specified in management plans or conservation policies.     

Strong influence of long-distance edge effect on herb-layer vegetation in forest fragments in an agricultural landscape

In agricultural landscapes in central Europe, species richness of the herbaceous plant community may be compromised by processes associated with forest fragmentation, habitat loss, and management practices. We examined variability in species richness and composition of the herbaceous layer in 229 plots located in 23 forest fragments (0.1 to 255 ha), in a representative upland agricultural landscape in central Bohemia, in relation to the most important site environmental factors, edge effects, and site history. The influence of environmental factors on the composition of vegetation in the herb layer was evaluated using generalized additive models, which enabled us to analyze highly non-linear and non-monotonic relationships. Total species richness and number of red-listed and ancient forest species were significantly influenced by type of forest vegetation, light quality, soil pH, slope aspect, and distance from the forest edge. Implications of the significant explanatory variables corresponded well to previous findings, with the exception of distance from the forest edge, for which we found a positive relationship with species richness for distances up to 200 m toward the forest interior. Plant species with low colonization ability occupied plots with increasing frequency from edge to forest interior, while fast-colonizing species showed the opposite trend. Apart from the edge effect, forest continuity should be considered for its important contribution to the richness of ancient forest and red-listed species, whereas the effect of forest fragment size appeared to be generally weak. These results do not negate the importance of large forest fragments for the maintenance of herb layer species richness, but specifically emphasize the essential contribution of the core habitats of these forests. In summary, we showed that the negative effects of habitat fragmentation on the richness of ancient forest and red-listed species and on herb layer species in total can be largely attributed to either the edge effect itself or to aggregate effects of forest edge and forest continuity.     

Importance of semi-natural habitats for the conservation of butterfly communities in landscapes dominated by pine plantations

While the area of plantation forests continues to increase worldwide, their contribution to the conservation of biodiversity is still controversial. There is a particular concern on the central role played by natural habitat remnants embedded within the plantation matrix in conserving species-rich insect communities. We surveyed butterflies in maritime pine plantation landscapes in south-western France in 83 plots belonging to seven habitat types (five successional stages of pine stands, native deciduous woodlands and herbaceous firebreaks). The effect of plot, habitat and landscape attributes on butterfly species richness, community composition and individual species were analysed with a General Linear Model (GLM), partial Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and the IndVal method. The most important factors determining butterfly diversity and community composition were the presence of semi-natural habitats (deciduous woodlands and firebreaks) at the landscape scale and the composition of understorey vegetation at the plot scale. Pure effects of plot variables explained the largest part of community variation (12.8%), but landscape factors explained an additional, independent part (6.7%). Firebreaks were characterized by a higher species richness and both firebreaks and deciduous woodlands harboured species not or rarely found in pine stands. Despite the forest-dominated landscape, typical forest butterflies were rare and mainly found in the deciduous woodlands. Threatened species, such as Coenonympha oedippus and Euphydryas aurinia, were found in pine stands and in firebreaks, but were more abundant in the latter. In the studied plantation forest, the conservation of butterflies depends mainly on the preservation of semi-natural habitats, an adequate understorey management and the maintenance of soil moisture levels.     

Forest edge and diversity: carabids along forest-grassland transects

Diversity relationships of carabids in forest edges and the neighbouring forest interior and the surrounding grassland are studied. Samples were taken along three replicated forest-grassland transects using pitfall traps in the Aggtelek National Park in Hungary during 2 years. The study revealed significant edge effect on the carabids. The Shannon diversity of carabids were significantly higher in the forest edge and the grassland than in the forest interior. Carabids of the forest interior, forest edge and grassland can be separated from each other by ordinations, both on the species composition and abundance, suggesting that all three habitats have a distinct species assemblage. Moreover, indicator species analysis detected significant edge associated species; based on the specificity and fidelity of the carabids we have distinguished five groups of species: habitat generalists, grassland-associated species, forest generalists, forest specialists, and edge-associated species. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that relative air moisture, temperature of the ground and cover of the herbs are the most important factors determining the diversity of carabids along the transects. Our results show that the high diversity of carabids in forest edges is due to the edge-associated species and the presence of species characteristic to the adjacent habitats. The significance of forest edges in nature conservation, serving as a source habitat for dispersal processes, contributing to the recolonization of carabids after habitat destruction or other disturbance is emphasized.     

The Contribution of Tropical Secondary Forest Fragments to the Conservation of Fruit-feeding Butterflies: Effects of Isolation and Age

Concomitant with the rapid loss of tropical mature forests, the relative abundance of secondary forests is increasing steadily and the latter are therefore of growing interest for conservation. We analysed species richness of fruit-feeding nymphalid butterflies in secondary forest fragments of different age and isolation and in mature forest at the eastern margin of the Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. From April to August 2001 we collected 2322 individuals of fruit-feeding butterflies, belonging to 33 species. Butterfly species richness increased with succession, but was significantly higher in mature forests than in all types of secondary forest. Isolation of the forest fragments did not have a significant effect on butterfly species richness in the range of distances (up to 1700 m) studied. Rather it appeared to affect only a few species. Species richness of endemic species was higher than of non-endemic species. Although endemic species were most diverse in mature forests, many species captured were restricted to secondary forests. Our results show that mature forest is essential for the conservation of nymphalid butterflies and for the endemic species in this area. However, considering the relatively large number of species found in these rather small habitat islands, secondary forest fragments, especially older successional stages, can be taken into account in conservation efforts and thus contribute to the preservation of tropical biodiversity on a landscape scale.     

Lizard assemblages in a fragmented landscape of central Chile

We studied lizard assemblages assessing abundance, richness, and nestedness in a fragmented landscape of central Chile including native temperate forest, forest fragments, and commercial pine plantations. Fragmentation and plantations increase the availability of edge habitats triggering both the support of additional lizard species, absent at the continuous forest, and the nestedness of lizard assemblages, where interior habitats of forest and plantations are nested subsets of habitat edges. A vulnerable lizard (Liolaemus tenuis) thrives at fragments in abundance similar to the continuous forest. Therefore, remnants ought to be considered in the conservation of lizard assemblages.     

Importance of boreal grasslands in Sweden for butterfly diversity and effects of local and landscape habitat factors

A widespread decline in biodiversity in agro-ecosystems has been reported for several groups of organisms in Western Europe. The butterfly fauna was studied in 60 selected semi-natural grasslands in a coniferous-dominated boreal landscape in south-eastern Sweden. The aim was to investigate how butterfly assemblages were affected by the amount of semi-natural grasslands in the surrounding landscape. Furthermore, we wanted to determine if semi-natural grasslands in boreal landscapes harboured species otherwise declining in other parts of Europe. For each study site, the amounts of semi-natural grasslands in the landscape within radii of 500, 2,000 and 5,000 m were studied. Nine local habitat factors were also recorded. Only the amount of semi-natural grasslands within a 5,000 m radius could explain a significant part of the variation in butterfly composition, but there was no clear relationship between the amount of semi-natural grassland and butterfly diversity. Instead, this study showed that local habitat quality was very important for butterfly diversity at individual sites. Flower abundance, sward height and herb composition were the most important local factors. Patches surrounded by a small amount of semi-natural grasslands had high butterfly diversity, contrary to expectations. This may be explained by the fact that forest habitat provides a matrix with several features suitable for butterflies. The butterfly fauna was rich in species representative of low-productivity grasslands, species that are declining in other countries in Western Europe.     

Butterfly communities respond to structural changes in forest restorations and regeneration in lowland Atlantic Forest,Paraná, Brazil

The Atlantic forest is one of the most diverse biomes on Earth but human activities are transforming this ecosystem into one of the most endangered. Most remnant old-growth rainforest is embedded within a mosaic of regenerating forest, tree plantations, pastures, and agricultural production. This has left a large percentage of the region’s endemic species threatened with extinction. Butterflies are considered as sensitive indicators of ecological conditions, especially in the Atlantic forest. This community can provide a window into animal response to restoration and how recovering habitats are used by native animal communities. The primary goal of this paper was to determine if butterfly communities respond to measures of structural recovery in naturally regenerating and re-forested pastures, and if this response increases the similarity of recovering butterfly communities relative to those of intact forests. Butterfly communities were sampled using two sampling methodologies, passive bait trapping and timed meander counts. These data sets were combined and correlated to assessment of habitat structure. We found that butterfly communities respond rapidly to structural changes in habitats as forest structure recovers on abandoned and restored pastures. While many species of mature forest inhabiting butterflies use regenerating forests as habitat, our young forests also retained an almost intact community of ruderal pasture inhabiting butterflies as well, indicating that these habitats retain many features of highly disturbed pastures. We suggest that measures of beta-diversity, which can be used to assess convergence in community structure, are far superior to the alpha-diversity measures that are typically used for assessing restoration recovery.