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Urban landscape influences the composition of butterflies in public parks and fragments in Southern Brazil

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Abstract

Terrestrial ecosystems across the world experience large-scale and widespread urbanization, causing a sharp decline, fragmentation and segregation of natural landscapes. Nevertheless, fragments of natural habitats that are found within the largest cities may still be capable of preserving high species diversity that amount to a large portion of the regional biodiversity. Knowing which variables of the urban landscape promote the conservation of species’ assemblages in large cities helps us to implement measures that support biodiversity conservation. We sampled the butterfly assemblages of eight urban forest fragments in Curitiba (Southern Brazil), from September 2015 to April 2016. At each site, richness, diversity and composition of butterflies were estimated and then correlated to nine landscape variables measured at two spatial scales (buffers of 250 and 750m). A total of 298 species were recorded in these fragments, representing 53.7% of all species known to occur in the city. Despite of great difference in the size of the fragments (between 27 and 56.3 ha), there were no significant differences in species richness among the fragments. On the other hand, some significant correlations were observed between landscape variables and butterfly composition other than the fragment itself, such as the paved area and total forested area present around the fragments. These results reinforce the idea that the conservation of natural fragments in urban areas requires public policies that enhance not only the habitat quality of the fragment itself, but also enrichment of the landscape around them.

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Abbreviations

BA:

Bosque do Alemão

BCI:

Bosque Capão da Imbuia

BTr:

Bosque dos Tropeiros

BJII:

Bosque João Paulo II

BRM:

Bosque Reinhard Maack

BTa:

Bosque Tatuquara

CCA:

Canonical Correspondence Analysis

FoA:

Forest area

D:

Fractal dimension

Dist:

Fragment and the green belt around the urban matrix

FrP:

Fragment perimeter

FrA:

Fragments area

ISTf:

Mean fragment isolation index

OGA:

Open green area

PB:

Parque Barigui

PaA:

Paved area

CON:

Proportion of the connection area

ZM:

Zoológico Municipal

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  1. Laboratório de Estudos de Lepidoptera Neotropical, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, CEP 81531-980, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    J. H. Pérez, E. Carneiro, F. G. Gaviria-Ortiz, M. M. Casagrande & O. H. H. Mielke

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  1. J. H. Pérez
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  2. E. Carneiro
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  3. F. G. Gaviria-Ortiz
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  4. M. M. Casagrande
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  5. O. H. H. Mielke
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Correspondence to J. H. Pérez.

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Pérez, J.H., Carneiro, E., Gaviria-Ortiz, F.G. et al. Urban landscape influences the composition of butterflies in public parks and fragments in Southern Brazil. COMMUNITY ECOLOGY 20, 291–300 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1556/168.2019.20.3.9

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