Vegetation and weather as drivers of butterfly species richness and abundance in a conservatory, Central Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated butterfly species richness and abundance in Amurum Forest Reserve. The effects of weather and vegetation as drivers on butterfly diversity was also determined. Pollard walk method for butterfly survey was used in three habitats namely the savanna scrub, gallery forest and the rocky outcrop. The pollard method was used to sample butterflies. Vegetation variables namely the number of shrubs, number of plants in fruits, average grass height, number of plants in flower, percentage litter cover and number of plants were measured within a 10 x 10 m plot placed randomly. There were 57 butterfly species recorded belonging to 5 families. Of the 5 families, Pieridae had the highest abundance while the lowest is that of Papilionidae. Weather parameters (wind speed and temperature) significantly affected butterfly abundance negatively. This means that as wind and temperature increases, the number of butterflies correspondently decreased. As vegetation parameters increased (Number of shrubs, number of plants in fruits, average grass height, number of plants in flower and percentage litter cover), abundance of butterflies significantly increased. However, as number of plants in fruits increased, the abundance of butterflies decreased. Similarly, butterfly’s species significantly increased with increase in the number of trees and percentage litter cover. We concluded that some vegetation and weather parameters are predictors of butterfly species abundance and richness.