Abstract
Understanding the ecological impacts of human disturbances is essential for the formulation of conservation strategies. This study aimed to investigate if unpaved trails (with about 5 to 6 m wide) inside forests can cause ecological changes in their surroundings. The studied group was the fruit-feeding butterflies, since they usually respond to habitat disturbances through changes in species composition. This group is also known to present a distinct distribution along a vertical gradient in tropical forests. However, in open areas, some canopy species are observed reaching the ground. Based on that, we address the following hypotheses: (1) trails inside the forest cause a disruption in the vertical stratification pattern of fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages, and (2) trails modify their community parameters. The study was carried out in a protected area in the Atlantic Forest. Butterflies were sampled monthly through 2 years with bait traps distributed in the canopy and the understory in two habitat types: (1) forest interior, and (2) edges parallel to a trail opening. Our results showed that the understory edge had a greater abundance of individuals and lower species richness when compared to the forest interior. However, the trails did not disrupt the vertical stratification pattern or modify the species composition of fruit-feeding butterflies. Therefore, their effect was not as strong as other types of human disturbances. The present results suggest trails inside forests presented a relatively low impact in the adjacent biological communities, preserving the habitat for several forest organisms and maintaining the vertical structure of biological communities along them.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all the staff of ‘Reserva Biológica da Serra do Japi’ and ‘Fundação Serra do Japi’ for providing us with accommodation. PEG and JYOC thanks the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES): Finance Code 001 for a Graduate Fellowship. JYOC also thanks the Fellowship from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (No. 141443/2018-9). JPS thanks National Science Foundation, NSF (DEB-1256742) for a Fellowship. AVLF acknowledges support from FAPESP (Grants 2011/50225-3 and 2013/50297-0), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Grants 302585/2011-7 and 303834/2015-3) and from the National Science Foundation, NSF (DEB-1256742). This publication is part of the “RedeLep – Rede Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Lepidópteros”: SISBIOTA-Brasil/CNPq (Grant 563332/2010-7). Butterfly species are registered in the SISGEN (AB6BCEF).
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PEG and AVLF contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by all co-authors. Analyses were performed by PEG. The first draft of the manuscript was written by PEG with major contributions of JPS and AVLF. All co-authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All co-authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Gueratto, P.E., Carreira, J.Y.O., Santos, J.P. et al. Effects of forest trails on the community structure of tropical butterflies. J Insect Conserv 24, 309–319 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-019-00199-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-019-00199-x