Abstract
The aim of the present study was to find groups of moths suitable for estimating changes in the abundance and richness of local and regional biodiversity in a temperate forest. We captured macro-moths from May to October over a 5-year period (2005-2009) at various sites in Mt. Jirisan National Park (JNP) in southern Korea. Six taxa were selected based on a strong correlation between the number of species in these taxa and total number of species of large moths: Ennominae (Enn), Arctiinae (Arc), Hermininae (Her), Notodontidae (Not), Drepanidae (Dre) and Ophiderinae (Oph). Of these, combinations of four groups were found to have the best predictive capability. We determined whether these indicator groups could be used to reveal mean differences in species abundance according to spatial (forest type, altitude) and temporal variables (monsoon season) since moth composition and abundances were closely related with these variables. The mean differences in the groups of moths in the two types of forest (Arc, Dre, Enn, Not), two altitudes (Dre, Enn, Her, Oph) and two seasons (Dre, Enn, Oph) were significant. Overall, it was revealed that a set of four groups, including two taxa (Dre and Enn), could be used to show differences in local and regional biodiversity of moths in southern Korean temperate forest.
Highlights
Insects comprise approximately two-thirds of known organisms in the world and are viewed as good indicators of ecosystem biodiversity because they are abundant, diverse and adapted to different environmental conditions (Samways, 1994)
We examined the current level of moth biodiversity by estimating species richness (Chao 1) at each sampling site
In the present study, based on 5 years of sampling moths, we estimated that the total moth biodiversity in the Jirisan National Park (JNP) was 903 species, belonging to 19 families (Table 3)
Summary
Insects comprise approximately two-thirds of known organisms in the world and are viewed as good indicators of ecosystem biodiversity because they are abundant, diverse and adapted to different environmental conditions (Samways, 1994). Insect ecological monitoring is important for several reasons (Spellerberg, 2005). Many ecosystems and communities remain poorly understood and data gathered in the process of monitoring can add substantially to our knowledge of these systems. Long-term data are needed to understand how human-induced change is affecting insect diversity and the environment. Monitoring provides information that can be used to better understand the implications of a changing environment for the things we care about; i.e., insect biodiversity and our quality of life (Spellerberg, 2005)
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