Diversity of Butterfly Assemblages Within Disturbed Habitats of Jardines de Hershey, Mayabeque, Cuba

Abstract

Butterflies have proven to be excellent indicators of the disturbance and biodiversity of habitats. Cuban butterflies are well known taxonomically, but the state of knowledge of their ecology is still insufficient and no studies have been carried out in some ecosystems. Here we characterize and compare the richness and diversity of butterfly assemblages associated with secondary forest and secondary thicket habitats in Jardines de Hershey, Mayabeque, Cuba. 86 butterfly species belonging to five different families were found. The forest assemblage was found to be the richest and with more evenness, which could be related to the presence of forest-exclusive butterflies in these patches. There is a high similarity in species composition due to the proximity of the sampling sites, and we detected no differences in abundance in the dry season, but there were differences in the humid season related to different abundance peaks of common species in both habitats. Abundance patterns of regularly observed species were similar in both habitats, except for the genus Calisto, and differences in these patterns could be related to habitat preferences of these species. The forest assemblage was more stable in time than the thicket assemblage, presumably due to a more stable environment. The locality could represent a shelter for butterfly fauna in a highly modified urban landscape. Further work should focus on the influence of environment in the diversity and replacement of the assemblages, and in the fauna of adjacent, more conserved forest patches.