Relative importance of quantity, quality and isolation of patches for butterfly diversity in fragmented urban forests |
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Authors: | Masashi Soga Shinsuke Koike |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Environment Conservation, Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 3-5-8 Saiwaicho, Futyu Tokyo, 183-8509, Japan;(2) Institute of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 3-5-8 Saiwaicho, Futyu Tokyo, 183-8509, Japan;(3) Present address: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Saiwaicho, Fuchu Tokyo, 183-8509, Japan |
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Abstract: | The majority of forests in urban areas are small and isolated. Improving habitat quality of small forests instead of increasing
habitat size and connectivity could be an effective means of conserving the biodiversity of such highly fragmented landscapes.
In this study, we investigated the relative importance of habitat quantity, quality and isolation on butterfly assemblages
in urban fragmented forests in Tokyo, Japan. We used four habitat geographic parameters: (1) fragment size, (2) shape index,
(3) isolation (distance to the mainland), and (4) connectivity; and three habitat quality parameters: (1) herbaceous nectar
plant abundance, (2) herbaceous nectar plant diversity, and (3) larval host plant diversity. We surveyed butterfly assemblages
along transects in 20 forest fragments that ranged in size from 1 to 122 ha. We used generalized linear models to relate the
number of species in a fragment to four habitat geographic parameters and three habitat quality parameters. The averaged models
based on AICc showed that fragment size had a strong positive effect on butterfly species richness. There was also a positive effect of
herbaceous nectar plant abundance on species diversity. These findings suggest that improving the habitat quality of small
and isolated forests in highly fragmented landscapes may be capable of maintaining levels of butterfly diversity comparable
to those of large fragments. |
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