Butterfly community dynamics in a monoculture-dominated agricultural landscape

Understanding biodiversity dynamics in agricultural landscapes is essential for promoting sustainable land use and conserving wildlife. We examined butterfly communities in a monoculture-dominated landscape, comparing remnant grassland sites surrounded by agricultural land (AGR), grasslands (GR), and forests (FOR). Data were collected from 30 sites across these three categories. We used non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) to assess community composition, rank abundance curves for community structure, and Hill numbers for alpha diversity. Generalized additive models (GAMs) identified key drivers of rare species richness and the abundance of the most common species, Coenonympha pamphilus. Results showed a few dominant species, with most having low abundances. Species richness was similar across all site categories, but differences in evenness and species dominance highlighted variations in community structure. GR and FOR sites had higher numbers of both rare and abun..., Data were collected during the implementation of the project Safeguarding European wild pollinators (Safeguard, 2021-2025). Study sites were selected to represent important pollinator habitats, i.e., open semi-natural habitats, recognized as habitats of conservation value. Butterflies were observed and collected at 30 sites in the northern part of Serbia, Vojvodina province in 2022. The sampling spanned three seasons (spring, summer, and autumn) and each site was visited three times.
Community structure and diversity patterns have been analyzed, community composition, and species-environment relationships. All data analyses were conducted in R 4.3.2 (R Core Team, 2020)., , # Data from: Butterfly community dynamics in a monoculture-dominated agricultural landscape

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bvq83bkk3](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bvq83bkk3)

## Description of the data and file structure

This repository contains the datasets used for all analyses conducted in the study **“Butterfly community dynamics in a monoculture‐dominated agricultural landscape.”**

**Rarefaction Analysis**

Rarefaction analysis based on Hill numbers was performed to compare species diversity across site categories. This analysis used the Evenness.csv data file.

**Community Composition Analysis**

Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) followed by PERMANOVA was used to analyze butterfly community composition across different site categories. This analysis used the NMDS.csv data file.

**Generalized Additive Models (GAM)**

To assess the relationship between butterfly species richness and environmental variables, we fitted a generalized additive model (GAM) with individual s..., ,