TY - JOUR

T1 - Diversity and composition of Amazonian moths in primary, secondary and plantation forests.

AU - Hawes, Joseph

AU - da Silva Motta, Catarina

AU - Overal, William L.

AU - Barlow, Jos

AU - Gardner, Toby A.

AU - Peres, Carlos A.

N1 - http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=TRO The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Journal of Tropical Ecology, 25 (3), pp 281-300 2009, © 2009 Cambridge University Press.

PY - 2009/5

Y1 - 2009/5

N2 - The response of tropical fauna to landscape-level habitat change is poorly understood. Increased conversion of native primary forest to alternative land-uses, including secondary forest and exotic tree plantations, highlights the importance of assessing diversity patterns within these forest types. We sampled 1848 moths from 335 species of Arctiidae, Saturniidae and Sphingidae, over a total of 30 trap-nights. Sampling was conducted during the wet season 2005, using three light-traps at 15 sites within areas of primary forest, secondary forest and Eucalyptus urograndis plantations in northern Brazilian Amazonia. The Jari study region provides one of the best opportunities to investigate the ecological consequences of land-use change, and this study is one of the first to examine patterns of diversity for a neotropical moth assemblage in a human-dominated landscape in lowland Amazonia. We found that the three moth families responded consistently to disturbance in terms of abundance and community structure but variably in terms of species richness, in a manner apparently supporting a life-history hypothesis. Our results suggest that secondary forests and Eucalyptus plantations can support a substantial level of moth diversity but also show that these forest types hold assemblages with significantly distinct community structures and composition from primary forest. In addition, the ability of these converted land-uses to support primary forest species may be enhanced by proximity to surrounding primary forest, an issue which requires consideration when assessing the diversity and composition of mobile taxa in human-dominated landscapes.

AB - The response of tropical fauna to landscape-level habitat change is poorly understood. Increased conversion of native primary forest to alternative land-uses, including secondary forest and exotic tree plantations, highlights the importance of assessing diversity patterns within these forest types. We sampled 1848 moths from 335 species of Arctiidae, Saturniidae and Sphingidae, over a total of 30 trap-nights. Sampling was conducted during the wet season 2005, using three light-traps at 15 sites within areas of primary forest, secondary forest and Eucalyptus urograndis plantations in northern Brazilian Amazonia. The Jari study region provides one of the best opportunities to investigate the ecological consequences of land-use change, and this study is one of the first to examine patterns of diversity for a neotropical moth assemblage in a human-dominated landscape in lowland Amazonia. We found that the three moth families responded consistently to disturbance in terms of abundance and community structure but variably in terms of species richness, in a manner apparently supporting a life-history hypothesis. Our results suggest that secondary forests and Eucalyptus plantations can support a substantial level of moth diversity but also show that these forest types hold assemblages with significantly distinct community structures and composition from primary forest. In addition, the ability of these converted land-uses to support primary forest species may be enhanced by proximity to surrounding primary forest, an issue which requires consideration when assessing the diversity and composition of mobile taxa in human-dominated landscapes.

KW - Arctiidae

KW - Brazil

KW - human-dominated landscapes

KW - land-use change

KW - Lepidoptera

KW - Saturnidae

KW - Sphingidae

U2 - 10.1017/S0266467409006038

DO - 10.1017/S0266467409006038

M3 - Journal article

VL - 25

SP - 281

EP - 300

JO - Journal of Tropical Ecology

JF - Journal of Tropical Ecology

SN - 1469-7831

IS - 3

ER -