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...本研究针对美国科罗拉多州博尔德市附近的温带生态系统内的6类不同生境，开展了为期3年的蝴蝶群落差异对比研究。上述生境由当地开放空间联盟（Open Space consortium）划分为以下类别：草地（Grasslands）、高草草原（Tallgrass）、山麓草原（Foothills Grasslands）、山麓河岸带（Foothills Riparian）、平原河岸带（Plains Riparian）以及山地林地（Montane Woodland）。调查周期内，区域降雨量与气温均存在显著波动。本研究采用波拉德-耶茨无脊椎动物采样法（Pollard-Yates invertebrate sampling method）开展蝴蝶调查，并对比了不同生境与年份间的蝴蝶种群丰度、物种丰富度及多样性差异。蝴蝶群落的差异主要受生境类型调控：三项定量指标在不同生境间均呈现显著差异，但仅两项指标在不同年份间存在显著变化。在各类生境中，平原河岸带的蝴蝶种群丰度显著高于山地林地与草地生境，但其物种多样性为所有生境中最低。山麓河岸带的蝴蝶物种丰富度仅低于某一类生境（Tal...）