Abstract

Fragmented urban forests, as green islands within urban area, are the primary habitats for a vast number of different organisms inhabiting large cities. The areas of the urban forests are usually small, and hence, the proportion of the forest edge is relatively high. It is therefore expected that overall butterfly diversity may be lower than that of suburban or rural forests, and that those of grassland species, forest edge species, and generalist species with a wider niche breadth may be richer. Butterflies were surveyed weekly by the line transact method in order to characterize the butterfly community of the Hongneung Forest, a fragmented urban forest in Seoul. Butterfly richness of the study forest is much lower than those of main forests around or in Seoul. Grassland species, forest edge species, and generalist species were found to be richer, which was in agreement with the expected patterns of urban butterfly communities. Also, an endangered species, Spindasis takanonis, was observed in the Hongneung Forest, showing that urban forests play important roles for conservation of rare species.

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