Macromoth Community Research Articles

Compact vs. Linear: Effects of Forest Structure, Patch Shape and Landscape Configuration on Black Alder Macromoth Communities

Landscape configuration and forest structure assume an increasing importance as determinants of animal communities. This paper focused on nocturnal Lepidoptera inhabiting alder patches in the Sila National Park, Italy. According to their shapes, patches were divided into linear and compact ones to disentangle the roles of forest structure and landscape configuration in determining the composition of nocturnal Lepidopteran communities at different observation scales. We used the Mann–Whitney test for medians and Shannon diversity, equitability, Fisher’s alpha, and nestedness to test differences among moth communities. We found that compact patches inhabited richer and more abundant communities. The abundance-based Correspondence Analysis showed moth communities clustered according to woodlot shape, except a compact woodlot with a linear-like moth community because it was entirely surrounded by grasslands. Percentage of forested area and abundance and composition of communities were positively correlated at 50 and 200 m buffers, while correlations were absent at smaller and larger buffers. Our results demonstrated that a width of 50 m may not be sufficient to give proper functionality to the wooded area, at least for moths. As a consequence, planning of forest restorations should consider the importance of increasing the structural habitat continuity at larger scales.

NOCTURNAL MACROLEPIDOPTERA ASSOCIATED TO CORK OAK WOODLANDS AND NEIGHBOUR FOREST REMNANTS IN A FRAGMENTED MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPE (LEPIDOPTERA)

Composition and diversity of forest macromoth communities strongly depend on the tree cover and they are very sensitive to environmental changes in terms of species composition and their relative abundance. Very few studies concerning the composition of forest Lepidoptera have been carried out on thermophilous oaks, one of the forest types most intensively exploited by humans for timber and other forest products. In this paper we analysed a georeferenced dataset of macromoths collected in an oak-dominated landscape of southern Italy in order to describe moth communities and their functional relationships with forest cover. We found that moth communities inhabiting cork oak and riparian woodlots are the most functionally linked to the tree cover, mainly because of less fragmentation than other investigated forest types. Eupithecia dodoneata, Cyclophora puppillaria, and Catocala nymphagoga were the most abundant oak-feeders, the last two shared with other moth communities of thermophilous oaks sampled in Spain and Corsica. However, all of them were absent in studies carried out in Central Europe where more mesophilous oak woodlots were sampled and where some species found in Calabrian beech forests at high altitudes were abundant. Standardized studies are needed to clarify large-scale functional relationships between moth communities and a given forest type, allowing us to predict and mitigate the detrimental effects due to land use and climate change. Key Words: Quercus, Populus, Salix, biodiversity, Calabria

The study on diversity of macromoth community in two different forest types from agro and forest ecosystems

The study on diversity of macromoth community in two different forest types from agro and forest ecosystems

Community structure of macromoths along altitudinal gradients in Korea

This study was aimed to (1) document the macromoth species richness and diversity along altitudinal gradients, (2) investigate the community structure along altitudinal gradients, and (3) analyze the similarity within each altitude using nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination. In this study, macromoth community structures were investigated in Mt. Baegun, Korea, along the altitudinal gradients in 2012 and 2015. Diversity indexes and NMDS ordination were used for community structure in each altitudinal gradient. In NMDS ordination, the result of altitude was more distinct than that of month. The results suggest that the altitudinal habitat might be more affected in species composition rather than in seasonal temperature.

Macromoth community structure along a 95‐year post‐harvest chronosequence in managed forests of northwest Washington State (U.S.A.), with comparison to old growth forest communities

The effects of timber harvest in the moist coniferous forests of western North America are not well documented for ecologically important arthropods such as moths. We assessed the response of macromoth community structure (abundance, sample size‐corrected estimates of species richness and diversity, and overall community composition) to time since deforestation at 20 previously logged sites (1–95 years post‐harvest), and compared the macromoth communities at these stands to four old growth stands. As stand age increased following timber harvest, the number of macromoths captured in ultraviolet light traps increased and the relative abundance of dietary generalists declined, but sample size‐corrected estimates of species richness and diversity did not vary. Macromoth community composition of the youngest stands (<10 years post‐harvest) differed markedly from each other but converged soon thereafter. Macromoth communities at old growth sites featured higher capture rates, lower dominance by dietary generalists, and higher sample size‐corrected estimates of species richness and diversity than at previously logged sites. Community composition profiles for old growth sites differed from all previously logged sites, but the differences were subtle except in comparison to the youngest logged sites. None of the 188 species we sampled were old growth specialists. Our results reveal dramatic initial impacts of deforestation on macromoth communities in moist coniferous forests of western North America. Such effects are largely reversed within two decades post‐harvest but some effects persist for at least 95‐years following logging.

Quantitative data from six years (2013-2018) of light trap sampling of macromoths (Lepidoptera) in Mt. Hallasan National Park, South Korea.

BackgroundThis paper presents the results of long-term monitoring of macromoth communities in Mt. Hallasan National Park, South Korea. This mountain shows an altitudinal gradient of vegetation from evergreen deciduous to boreal trees, harbouring more than 550 species of vascular plants. The goal of this project was to investigate the changes in moth assemblages along the altitudinal gradient in this mountain ecosystem. We monitored macromoth communities at 11 sites in Mt. Hallasan National Park from 2013 to 2018, during which time moths were collected once a month from May to October, using an ultraviolet bucket trap. The generated dataset, which represented 587 species and 13,249 individuals from 14 families, can be adopted to establish a baseline for development of a network-orientated database to assess temporal and spatial changes of moths in temperate and tropical forests.New informationThis is the first long-term sampling-event dataset on macromoth assemblages in changing vegetation from evergreen deciduous to boreal tree zones, conducted in Mt. Hallasan National Park, the national park at the highest elevation and located on the largest volcanic island in South Korea. The aim of this study was to provide a description and a link to published data in the format of a peer-reviewed journal and to provide recognition of the effort in a scholarly article (based on data paper definition published at https://www.gbif.org/en/data-papers).

Long‐term (2005–2017) macromoth community monitoring at Mt. Jirisan National Park, South Korea

AbstractMoths, which are one of the mega‐diversity insect groups, play important roles as herbivores in terrestrial ecosystems. Because most moths are nocturnal and easily attracted to lights, the utilization of consistent and uniform sampling methods based on a set of standardized protocols can lead to creation of comparable datasets on regional to global scales. These datasets can be used to address environmental issues such as the biological impacts resulting from climate change and land‐use policies. More than 60% of the Korean peninsula is mountainous, and the forests on most mountains are undergoing marked changes related to forest succession and recent climatic variability. Therefore, the present study was conducted to monitor macromoth communities in a mountain ecosystem of Korea. Our study site, Mt. Jirisan National Park is the first national park and the highest mountain on the mainland of South Korea. This mountain range runs 34 km east to west and 26 km north to south, harboring more than 1,400 vascular plant and more than 3,000 insect species. We monitored macromoth communities at six sites in Mt. Jirisan National Park, South Korea from 2005 to 2017, during which time moths were collected from May to October using an ultraviolet bucket trap. The generated dataset, which contains 1,089 species and 40,694 individuals in 20 families, can be used to establish a baseline for development of a network‐oriented database to assess the temporal and spatial changes of moths in temperate and tropical forests and the biotic impact of environmental change.

Beta diversity patterns reveal positive effects of farmland abandonment on moth communities

Farmland abandonment and the accompanying natural succession are largely perceived as unwanted amongst many European conservationists due to alleged negative effects on biodiversity levels. Here, we test this assumption by analysing alpha, beta and gamma diversity patterns of macro-moth communities in habitats on an ecological succession gradient, from extensively managed meadows to scrub-encroached and wooded sites. Macro-moths were light-trapped at 84 fixed circular sampling sites arranged in a semi-nested design within the National Park of Peneda-Gerês, NW-Portugal. In total, we sampled 22825 individuals belonging to 378 species. Alpha, beta and gamma diversity patterns suggest that farmland abandonment is likely to positively affect both overall macro-moth diversity and forest macro-moth diversity, and to negatively affect species diversity of non-forest macro-moth species. Our results also show that spatial habitat heterogeneity is important to maintain gamma diversity of macro-moths, especially for rare non-forest species and habitat specialists.

Increased body size along urbanization gradients at both community and intraspecific level in macro-moths.

Urbanization involves a cocktail of human-induced rapid environmental changes and is forecasted to gain further importance. Urban-heat-island effects result in increased metabolic costs expected to drive shifts towards smaller body sizes. However, urban environments are also characterized by strong habitat fragmentation, often selecting for dispersal phenotypes. Here, we investigate to what extent, and at which spatial scale(s), urbanization drives body size shifts in macro-moths-an insect group characterized by positive size-dispersal links-at both the community and intraspecific level. Using light and bait trapping as part of a replicated, spatially nested sampling design, we show that despite the observed urban warming of their woodland habitat, macro-moth communities display considerable increases in community-weighted mean body size because of stronger filtering against small species along urbanization gradients. Urbanization drives intraspecific shifts towards increased body size too, at least for a third of species analysed. These results indicate that urbanization drives shifts towards larger, and hence, more mobile species and individuals in order to mitigate low connectivity of ecological resources in urban settings. Macro-moths are a key group within terrestrial ecosystems, and since body size is central to species interactions, such urbanization-driven phenotypic change may impact urban ecosystem functioning, especially in terms of nocturnal pollination and food web dynamics. Although we show that urbanization's size-biased filtering happens simultaneously and coherently at both the inter- and intraspecific level, we demonstrate that the impact at the community level is most pronounced at the 800 m radius scale, whereas species-specific size increases happen at local and landscape scales (50-3,200m radius), depending on the species. Hence, measures-such as creating and improving urban green infrastructure-to mitigate the effects of urbanization on body size will have to be implemented at multiple spatial scales in order to be most effective.

Assessing the efficiency of UV LEDs as light sources for sampling the diversity of macro-moths (Lepidoptera)

Light trapping is the most widely used tool for determining the diversity of nocturnal Lepidoptera, but UV LEDs have yet to be used as light sources for the large-scale monitoring of Lepidoptera. We assessed the efficiency of this novel light source for sampling moths using a Heath type moth equipped with a strip of 150 high brightness UV LEDs (emission peak 398 nm, ~ 15 W) powered by a 12 V battery. We compared the number of individuals, the number of species and the Geometridae / Noctuidae ratio recorded for the samples collected using UV LED traps with those collected in two monitoring programs carried out in the same geographic region using two different light sources: a 200 W incandescent lamp (Rothamsted trap) and a 160 W mercury vapour lamp (manual catch). The total catch consisted of 61,120 individuals belonging to 699 species. The species richness rarefaction curves revealed that the Rothamsted trap collected fewer species and individuals than UV LED traps. Furthermore, the median numbers of species and individuals caught by UV LED traps fell within the range of those caught by mercury vapour lamp traps. In addition, the community composition recorded using incandescent lamps and UV LEDs was similar. The data obtained using UV LED traps, in absolute terms and in comparison with the other light sources and different sampling methods, clearly reveal that this light source is suitable for sampling macro-moth communities. For field work UV LEDs have many advantages, as they are resistant to mechanical damage, easily protected from heavy rain and energy efficient.

The Effect of Herb Layer on Nocturnal Macrolepidoptera (Lepidoptera: Macroheterocera) Communities

Abstract Vegetation beneath the canopy might be an important factor for macromoth community composition in forest ecosystems, strongly determined by forest management practices. Herein, we compared nocturnal macrolepidoptera communities and herb layers in young and old sessile oak (Quercus petraea) dominated forest stands in the Sopron Mountains (Western Hungary). The investigation of Lepidoptera species was performed 15 times from the end of March to the end of October in 2011. Portable light traps were used, and a total of 257 species and 5503 individuals were identified. The Geometridae family was the most abundant, followed by Noctuidae and Notodontidae. To investigate vascular plant species in the herb layer, circular plots with a 10-m radius around the moth traps were used. In each plot, we estimated the abundance of plant species in 20 sub-plots with a 1-m radius from May to July of 2011. The abundance of macromoth species was higher in the old forest stand, which might be influenced by the trees’ higher foliar biomass. However, the mean abundance of herbs was lower in the old forest. Diversity of both the herb layer and the moth community were significantly higher in the young forest. However we found higher species richness of moths in the old forest. For additional analyses, moths feeding on plants in the herb layer were selected, but neither the difference in species number, neither mean abundance between the young and old forest were significant. Our results suggest that the herb layer is not a key factor for macrolepidoptera communities in Hungarian sessile oak forest stands.

Determinants of moth diversity and community in a temperate mountain landscape: vegetation, topography, and seasonality

Macromoth diversity, abundance, and community structure in the topographically complex HJ Andrews Experimental Forest and LTER site was studied on the west slope of the Cascade Range, Oregon. Data on 493 macromoth species (62,221 individuals) was sampled eight times/year at 20 locations from 2004 to 2008 and examined using multivariate statistics and generalized additive models to determine the importance of topography and vegetation on moth community assembly and diversity. Significant differences exist between moth communities at lower and higher elevations. High‐elevation moth communities are far more variable inter‐annually, whether associated with high‐elevation forests, meadows, or clearcuts. Low‐elevation young and old gymnosperm forests and riparian forests are more stable and predictable communities having less inter‐annual variability. High‐elevation communities show more intra‐annual variability than low‐elevation communities. Low‐elevation moth communities are more abundant than high‐elevation communities and typically associated with the most common, abundant species of macromoths in the study. High‐elevation communities, by contrast, are associated with less abundant, more evenly distributed species, as well as with rare moth species. Macromoth community structure and diversity were related to year or sample period and structural descriptions of vegetation communities, but not related to known host‐plant diversity. High‐elevation communities are threatened by contraction of montane meadows and climate change which, given the variability in high‐elevation communities, could severely impact the biological diversity of the western Cascades landscape. Nocturnal macromoths represent an important potential indicator of ecosystem health and change.

Diversity comparison of nocturnal macrolepidoptera communities (Lepidoptera: Macroheterocera) in different forest stands

Macrolepidoptera communities were examined and diversity was compared in three different indigenous forest stands (Oak, Beech and mixed forests) in the Sopron Mountains (Hungary). The monitoring was carried out from May to November, 2008, using portable light traps and identified a total of 349 species and 8046 individuals in 12 families. The results suggest that the mixed forest stand has higher diversity of macromoth species. The species richness was the highest in the mixed forest stand, followed by beech and oak forests. The measures of diversity were determined using Shannon and Simpson diversity models. To compare diversity values, Hutchenson’s t-test was used. Furthermore, the diversity values were ranked by Rényi’s diversity ordering. The results found higher diversity in the mixed forest stand, while the beech forest stand had lower diversity of macromoth communities. Ranking of the oak forest stand was not possible.

Factors influencing moth assemblages in woodland fragments on farmland: Implications for woodland management and creation schemes

As a consequence of long-term deforestation, woodland cover has been drastically reduced in the United Kingdom. The remaining woodland consists mainly of small, highly fragmented woodland patches within farmland. A number of agri-environment schemes aim to increase the amount and quality of woodland on agricultural land, but there is limited information on associations between moths and woodland characteristics which can be used to produce practical recommendations for woodland creation and management. We studied micro- and macromoth communities in woodland patches within farmland to assess the effects of woodland vegetation character and patch configuration. In addition, we measured the influence of the surrounding landscape to assess the potential importance of a landscape-scale management approach for moth conservation. In general, high tree species diversity and a high proportion of native tree species were related to higher moth abundance and species richness; there was a negative impact of grazing. Moth abundance and richness were higher in large woodland patches located close to other woodlands. Woodlands of compact shapes (with proportionally less edge exposed to the surrounding matrix) had higher numbers of ‘woodland species’, which were associated with woodland core habitat. Small woodland patches can potentially maintain relatively high moth abundance and richness, depending on their shape and proximity to other woodlands. Woodland extent was the most important landscape parameter influencing moths, mostly at relatively small spatial scales (⩽500m); macromoth ‘woodland species’ were influenced by woodland extent at larger spatial scales (⩽1500m) and are more likely to benefit from a landscape-scale management approach. Our results have important implications for the design and management of woodland patches of high conservation value within agricultural land.