Abstract
This study evaluated the seasonality of Sphingidae spp. in two areas of savannah, in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, sampled for one year (June, 2014 through May, 2015) with the aid of Pennsylvania light traps placed at four sampling points. Data on fauna were obtained through the following parameters: abundance (N), richness (S), composition, Shannon diversity and uniformity indices (H’ and U’), and the Berger-Parker (BP) dominance index. Richness estimates were calculated using Bootstrap, Chao1, ACE, Jackknife 1, and Jackknife2 estimators. The Pearson correlation was also used to analyze the effect of climatic variables such as rainfall, temperature, and relative humidity on richness and abundance. The result for the parameters analyzed during the entire sampling period was N= 374, S= 34, H’= 2.59, U= 0.733 and BP= 0.235. The estimation of richness showed that between 63% and 87% of expected species were collected (Bootstrap estimated 39 species and Chao1 estimated 54). The most representative species were: Isognathus caricae (Linnaeus, 1758) (N= 88), Enyo lugubris lugubris (Linnaeus, 1771) (N= 58), Isognathus menechus (Boisduval, [1875]) (N= 46) and Cocytius duponchel (Poey, 1832) (N= 44), with 54% of the sample containing species considered rare divided into 298 male and 76 female specimens. For climatic variables, there was a moderate positive correlation only between abundance and temperature. The less-rainy period presented greater richness (S= 26) and abundance (N= 222), and the rainy period had better indices for H’ (2.55), U (8.01), and BP (0.230). The richness estimator Jackknife 2 was the best estimator in both sampling periods with 34 in the less-rainy period and 45 in the rainy period. The richness and abundance obtained in this study contribute significantly to the knowledge of Sphingidae fauna in an area of Amazonian savannahs.
Highlights
The Brazilian Amazon contains approximately 3⁄4 of the Amazon biome, considered to be the worlds largest phytogeographic domain of tropical forests, 90% of which is composed of tropical forest with the remainder made up of other vegetation types such as savannah, floodplain forests, and areas subjected to annual flooding (Ab’Saber, 2002)
Due to the scarcity and the importance of these studies in the Amazon, the objective of this work was to conduct a faunal survey of hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) in areas of savannah in the Alter do Chão Environmental Protection Area (ACEPA), with the goal of describing the speciesrichness, abundance, diversity, and composition, and verify whether or not there are seasonal differences in the occurrence of these species and correlations of abundance and richness with climatic variables
This study was conducted in two areas of Amazonian savannah in the State of Pará within the Alter do Chão Environmental Protection Area (ACEPA) in the city of Santarém (Figure 1)
Summary
The Brazilian Amazon contains approximately 3⁄4 of the Amazon biome, considered to be the worlds largest phytogeographic domain of tropical forests, 90% of which is composed of tropical forest with the remainder made up of other vegetation types such as savannah, floodplain forests, and areas subjected to annual flooding (Ab’Saber, 2002). Enclaves of savannah are characterized as Amazonian savannahs (Ab’Saber, 2002), which are little known, highly threatened and under-protected (Carvalho & Mustin, 2017) and occupy approximately 150.000 km of the Amazon basin (Pires & Prance, 1985). In the State of Pará savannah is present on the island of Marajó, Alto Paru, Monte Alegre, the region of the Trombetas River, Santarém, Serra dos Carajás and Serra do Cachimbo (Pires & Prance, 1985). In the Santarém region a large part of the savannah resides in the Alter do Chão Environmental Protection Area (ACEPA) (Magnusson, Lima, Albernaz, Sanaiotti, & Guillaumet, 2008). In the areas of savannah in the ACEPA the situation has not been any different in the last few years due to human activities that threaten its biodiversity and even the integrity of the ecosystem
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