Data from: Flying between raindrops: strong seasonal turnover of several Lepidoptera groups in lowland rainforests of Mount Cameroon

1. Although seasonality in the tropics is often less pronounced than in
temperate areas, tropical ecosystems show seasonal dynamics as well.
Nevertheless, individual tropical insects’ phenological patterns are still
poorly understood, especially in the Afrotropics. To fill this gap, we
investigated biodiversity patterns of Lepidoptera communities at three
rainforest localities in the foothills of Mount Cameroon, West Africa, one
of the wettest places in the world. 2. Our multi-taxa approach covered six
lepidopteran groups (fruit-feeding butterflies and moths, the families
Sphingidae, Saturniidae, and Eupterotidae, and the subfamily Arctiinae of
Erebidae) with diverse life strategies. We sampled adults of the focal
groups in three distinct seasons. Our sampling included standardised
bait-trapping (80 traps exposed for ten days per locality and season) and
attraction by light (six full nights per locality and season). 3.
Altogether, our dataset comprised 20,576 specimens belonging to 559
(morpho)species of the focal groups. The biodiversity of Lepidoptera
generally increased in the high-dry season, and either increased
(fruit-feeding moths, Arctiinae, Saturniidae) or decreased (butterflies,
Sphingidae) in the transition to the wet season in particular groups.
Simultaneously, we revealed a strong species turnover of fruit-feeding
Lepidoptera and Arctiinae among the seasons, indicating relatively high
specialisation of these communities for particular seasons. 4. Such
temporal specialisation can make the local communities of butterflies and
moths especially sensitive to the expected seasonal perturbations caused
by the global change. Because of the key role of Lepidoptera across
trophic levels, such changes in their communities could strengthen this
impact on entire tropical ecosystems.