Taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic perspectives on butterfly spatial assembly in northern Amazonia

1. Understanding the causes of the spatial variation of biodiversity is an important goal in community ecology. This study investigated the response of fruit‐feeding butterfly assemblages to environmental gradients resulting from the transition from ombrophilous forests to white‐sand forests in nort...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecological entomology 2017-12, Vol.42 (6), p.816-826
Main Authors: GRAÇA, MÁRLON B., PEQUENO, PEDRO A. C. L., FRANKLIN, ELIZABETH, SOUZA, JORGE L. P., MORAIS, JOSÉ W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Amazon floodplain
Biodiversity
Butterflies & moths
Community structure
Dispersal
Ecological monitoring
Environmental policy
Forests
functional diversity
Landscape
Larvae
Light intensity
Luminous intensity
Nymphalidae
ombrophilous forests
phylogenetic diversity
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Sand
Spatial distribution
Species composition
Species richness
Taxonomy
white‐sand forests
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Summary:1. Understanding the causes of the spatial variation of biodiversity is an important goal in community ecology. This study investigated the response of fruit‐feeding butterfly assemblages to environmental gradients resulting from the transition from ombrophilous forests to white‐sand forests in northern Brazil by assessing taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic descriptors of community structure. 2. Butterflies were sampled with bait traps in the Brazilian Amazon, while their traits and phylogenetic relatedness were either measured directly or gathered from the literature. Then, the effects of plant species turnover, light intensity, and flood risk on butterfly community patterns were tested. 3. Butterfly abundance increased with light intensity in non‐forested white‐sand habitats, whereas ombrophilous forests harboured higher species richness. A trade‐off was observed between richness and abundance across the gradient. Plant turnover strongly drove shifts in butterfly species composition. In white‐sand habitats, butterflies had higher dispersal capacity, faster flights and generalist larvae, whereas in periodically flooded plots the functional diversity of flight‐related traits was higher. No phylogenetic response to environmental gradients was detected. 4. These results exposed the complexity of community structure across a mosaic landscape and how analysing more than one dimension of biodiversity may reveal underlying relationships not apparent under isolated approaches. Caution is required when using phylogeny as a proxy for functional similarity, as the responses were not congruent in this study. The ecological patterns revealed here, aligned with further regional‐scale studies, can provide complementary perspectives on butterfly spatial distribution and ensure that appropriate conservation policies are developed. There is a trade‐off between richness and abundance of butterflies in the transition from ombrophilous forests to white‐sand habitats. White‐sand forests are composed of butterflies with higher flight capacity (larger wings and faster flights) and more generalised larvae than those from ombrophilous forests. The responses from functional and phylogenetic approaches were not congruent, thus highlighting that phylogenetic relatedness is not always an appropriate surrogate for functional diversity.
ISSN:0307-6946
1365-2311
DOI:10.1111/een.12454