Butterfly community ecology: the influences of habitat type, weather patterns, and dominant species in a temperate ecosystem

We compared variation in butterfly communities across 3 years at six different habitats in a temperate ecosystem near Boulder, Colorado, USA. These habitats were classified by the local Open Space consortium as: Grasslands, Tallgrass, Foothills Grasslands, Foothills Riparian, Plains Riparian, and Montane Woodland. Rainfall and temperature varied considerably during these years. We surveyed butterflies using the Pollard-Yates method of invertebrate sampling, and compared abundance, species richness, and diversity across habitats and years. Communities were most influenced by habitat, with all three quantitative measures varying significantly across habitats but only two measures showing variation across years. Among habitats, butterfly abundance was higher in Plains Riparian sites than in Montane Woodland or Grassland sites, though diversity was lowest in Plains Riparian areas. Butterfly species richness was higher in Foothills Riparian sites than it was in all but one other habitat (Tal...