Comparisons of butterfly richness and abundance measures in prairie and barrens

Transect surveys of adult butterflies were conducted along fixed routes at 27 study sites grouped into three subregions of tallgrass prairie and one subregion of pine-oak barrens in the midwestern USA. Within subregion, each site was visited the same number of times over 5–7 years on similar dates with similar weather. For each site, five indices of species richness and/or abundance were calculated both for total butterflies and for specialist species primarily restricted to native herbaceous vegetation. These indices were then analysed as to how much they agreed or conflicted in site ranking and how site rankings based on total butterflies compared to those based on specialists. Variation in site ranking by different indices was relatively low. Mean site rank by specialist indices covaried significantly with mean site rank by indices for total butterflies. Numerous studies have shown that on a regional scale, areas of higher richness for all species in a taxonomic group are different habitat types (based on amount of canopy or degree of degradation) from hotspots for that taxon's subset of species of conservation concern (endemics or specialists). But in this study, within a habitat type, site rankings based on total butterflies significantly tended to agree with site rankings based on specialist butterflies. This suggests that site prioritization and management favouring specialist butterflies would also favour the overall butterfly fauna possible in the same habitat.