Abstract
Urbanization is one of the leading causes of habitat loss, habitat degradation, and fragmentation. Urban development negatively affects biodiversity. We clarified changes in butterfly communities due to urbanization in urban green areas. Intotal, 59 species and 1,465 individuals of butterflies were observed in the four urban green areas -Namsan Park(NS), Ewha Womans University (EW), Bukseoul Dream Forest (BD), and Hongneung Forest (HF) -anda natural forest, Gwangneung Forest (GF). The categories of land use around the study sites were determined based on GIS data. Species richness and density of niche breadth and habitat type in the four urban green areas differed mostly from those in GF. Estimated species richness and species diversity (H')in the four urban green areas were significantly lower than those in GF. Species richness and density of forest interior species and specialist species were positively correlated with paddy, field, and forest, whereas those of forest interior species and specialists were negatively correlated with urban area and road. Species composition and community structure of butterflies in the four urban were differed from those in GF. Theseresults suggest that decreases in paddy, field, and forest associated with the increased urban area and road negatively influenced species composition and changed butterfly communities.
Highlights
Urbanization is one of the leading causes of habitat loss, habitat degradation, and fragmentation
(1) How does the butterfly community in an urban green area differ from that in a natural forest? (2) Which species are more vulnerable to the effects of urbanization? (3) Which environmental factors influence the butterfly communities? we suggest an alternative to increase butterfly diversity in urban areas
Density was highest in Bukseoul Dream Forest (BD) (14.25), followed by Gwangneung Forest (GF) (13.17), Hongneung Forest (HF) (11.33) and Namsan Park (NS) (5.37), and was lowest in Ewha Womans University (EW) (5.08)
Summary
Urbanization is one of the leading causes of habitat loss, habitat degradation, and fragmentation. We clarified changes in butterfly communities due to urbanization in urban green areas. Urbanization is usually considered to impact biodiversity (Blair and Launer 1997; McKinney 2002, 2006, 2008; Bergerot et al 2011). Cities are generally grown in terms of human population size over time (Grimm et al 2008). This growth is accompanied by an expansion of urban areas. Changes in habitat quality and quantity associated with urbanization have negative influences on biodiversity. Plants and animals have frequently experienced local extinction in urban area due to habitat loss, habitat degradation, and fragmentation (McKinney 2002; Clark et al 2007). Studies on the effects of urbanization on biodiversity in urban areas compared with rural areas
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