Taxocenotic and Biocenotic Study of Lepidoptera (Rhopalocera) in Rucamanque: A Forest Remnant in the Central Valley of the Araucanía Region, Chile

Abstract

Considering that butterflies (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) are sensitive to physical and climatic changes, e.g. of temperature, humidity and solar radiation, produced by disturbances in their habitat, a survey of this group was carried out in a small remnant of native forest (Rucamanque) in the centra lv a ll eyoftheAr auca níaReg ionofChil e. The object was to record the composition, abundance and diversity of Rhopalocera in grassland, forest and the ecotone between them during spring and summer. The study recorded 1190 individual butterflies belonging to 25 species, 18 genera, 8 sub-families and 4 families. The highest values of species richness and abundance were obtained in the summer, of 25 species and 953 individuals; in the spring, 9 species were recorded with a total of 237 individuals. The greatest diversity and homogeneity were found in the ecotone habitat (H 0 =3.86; J 0 =0.88; λ =0.08); the values for grassland were (H 0 =2.73; J 0 =0.67; λ =0.23) and for forest (H 0 =2.55; J 0 =0.71; λ =0.23); these environments being less diverse and more homogeneous. The greatest taxocenotic similarity was found between grassland and the ecotone (54%), and the least similarity appeared between the ecotone and forest (34%). The greatest biocenotic similarity was found between the ecotone and forest (48%), and the lowest correspondence was between grassland and forest (4.18%).