Spatial and temporal variation in butterfly biodiversity in a West African forest: lessons for establishing efficient rapid monitoring programmes |
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Authors: | Kwaku Aduse‐Poku Oduro William Samuel K Oppong Torben Larsen Caleb Ofori‐Boateng Freerk Molleman |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, , Cambridge, U.K;2. Department of Wildlife and Range Management, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, , Kumasi, Ghana;3. Butterflies of West Africa, , DK 1806 Frederiksberg, Denmark;4. Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, , Kumasi, Ghana;5. Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, , 46 EE‐51014 Tartu, Estonia |
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Abstract: | Because tropical forests face serious threats and are usually situated in developing countries, cheap and easy Rapid Biodiversity Assessment (RBA) seems an ideal strategy for documenting changes in habitat quality and setting conservation priorities. Fruit‐feeding butterflies are often used as focal taxa to document biodiversity trends in tropical forests. However, the choice of inappropriate sampling strategies may nullify its value. More extensive data sets that sample multiple months and seasons and incorporate the vertical dimension are needed as a baseline for designing reliable sampling regimes. Therefore, we performed a butterfly trapping study in Ghana, using both understorey and canopy traps, and sampling seven periods covering dry and wet seasons. Both individual numbers and species richness were on average three to four times higher in the understorey than in the canopy traps with strikingly different species composition (only 11% overlap in species). The number of species and individual abundance recorded in a month varied extensively. This study underlined the importance of taking into account temporal variation and vertical stratification when designing RBAs of fruit‐feeding butterflies in West African forests. We recommend the use of both understorey and canopy traps and inclusion of both ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ seasons into RBA sampling regimes. |
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Keywords: | baits Bia National Park canopy fruit traps fruits Ghana trapping traps understorey Nymphalidae |
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