Abstract
Deforestation has negative impacts on diversity and community patterns of several taxa. In the eastern Amazon, where much deforestation is predicted for the coming years, forests patches may be essential to maintain the local biodiversity. Despite increasing concerns about the conservation of threatened areas, few studies have been performed to analyze the communities of diversified groups, such as insects, in the eastern Amazon. Here, we investigated species diversity and community structure of fruit-feeding butterflies, a well-known bioindicator group, in a threatened remnant of an eastern Amazonian forest located on Maranhão Island, northeastern Brazil. Fruit-feeding butterflies were sampled monthly for one year. Diversity and evenness indices, richness estimators, rarefaction curve, and rank-abundance plot were used to describe community structure in the study area. We captured 529 fruit-feeding butterflies in four subfamilies, 23 genera and 34 species. The three most abundant species, Hamadryas februa, Hamadryas feronia, and Hermeuptychia cf. atalanta are indicators of disturbed habitats and represented more than half of the collected individuals. Richness estimators revealed that between 87 and 94% of the fruit-feeding butterfly species were sampled, suggesting few additional records would be made for the area. Our results indicate that human-caused disturbances have altered local community patterns and provide baseline data for future research in threatened regions of the eastern Amazon.
Highlights
Studies of species diversity provide relevant insights about biological communities, especially in threatened regions (Purvis & Hector, 2000)
There is a growing need for studies performed in habitat patches of the eastern Amazonian forest, since these remaining habitats may contribute to partially offset biodiversity losses (Barlow et al, 2007; Tulloch et al, 2016)
This study was conducted between April 2012 and May 2013 in an eastern Amazonian forest area of approximately 600 ha called “Sítio Aguahy”, owned by the Companhia Farmacêutica Quercegen Agronegócios (Quercegen S.A.) and located in the municipality of São José de Ribamar, state of Maranhão, northeastern Brazil (02.65°S; 44.14°W) (Fig. 1)
Summary
Studies of species diversity provide relevant insights about biological communities, especially in threatened regions (Purvis & Hector, 2000). It is possible to understand how communities assemble and the mechanisms generating and maintaining species diversity, which is an important step for conservation planning (Purvis & Hector, 2000). The Amazon forest has been severely degraded in the past years, increasing concerns for the biological conservation of this biome (Laurance et al, 2004). The eastern portion of the Brazilian Amazon is poorly studied and highly threatened (Vieira et al, 2008; Martins & Oliveira, 2011), still needing species inventories and community structure analysis to increase our understanding of its biota. There is a growing need for studies performed in habitat patches of the eastern Amazonian forest, since these remaining habitats may contribute to partially offset biodiversity losses (Barlow et al, 2007; Tulloch et al, 2016)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
