Urbanization related changes in lepidopteran community

Abstract

Urbanization displaces natural habitats with impervious surfaces and managed ornamental green infrastructure. This study compared the structure of lepidopteran community in an office campus cleared from forest to that in the remaining forest. For the comparison, we trapped 2,233 lepidopteran specimens of 56 species from an office campus and adjacent forest. The species richness of lepidopteran assemblage in the office campus was half of that in the forest and consisted primarily of the same species found in the forest. The abundance and biomass of Lepidoptera in the office campus was a quarter of that in the forest. The biomass and abundance of Lepidoptera decreased along with the impervious area within 100-meter radius around the traps and approached zero when impervious surfaces covered the area entirely. The specimens in the trapped lepidopteran assembly from the office campus were on average larger, indicating elevated mobility, than those caught from the forest. Our results support earlier studies concluding that fragmented urban landscape selects for large mobile species, which can feed on ornamental plants or can disperse between high-quality habitats within urban landscape. Green infrastructure with native plants, high-quality native habitats and their connectivity can maintain species-rich lepidopteran communities in urban landscapes.