Seasonal shifts of biodiversity patterns and species’ elevation ranges of butterflies and moths along a complete rainforest elevational gradient on Mount Cameroon
Vincent Maicher
Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Departments of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorSzabolcs Sáfián
Departments of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Institute of Silviculture and Forest Protection, Faculty of Forestry, University of West Hungary, Sopron, Hungary
Search for more papers by this authorMercy Murkwe
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon
Search for more papers by this authorSylvain Delabye
Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Departments of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorŁukasz Przybyłowicz
Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland
Search for more papers by this authorPavel Potocký
Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorIshmeal N. Kobe
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon
Search for more papers by this authorŠtěpán Janeček
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorJan E. J. Mertens
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorEric B. Fokam
Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon
Search for more papers by this authorTomasz Pyrcz
Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Nature Education Centre of the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Search for more papers by this authorJiří Doležal
Departments of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Trebon, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorJan Altman
Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Trebon, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorDavid Hořák
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorKonrad Fiedler
Department of Botany & Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Robert Tropek
Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Correspondence
Robert Tropek, Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Vinicna 7, CZ-12844 Prague, Czechia.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorVincent Maicher
Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Departments of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorSzabolcs Sáfián
Departments of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Institute of Silviculture and Forest Protection, Faculty of Forestry, University of West Hungary, Sopron, Hungary
Search for more papers by this authorMercy Murkwe
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon
Search for more papers by this authorSylvain Delabye
Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Departments of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorŁukasz Przybyłowicz
Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland
Search for more papers by this authorPavel Potocký
Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorIshmeal N. Kobe
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon
Search for more papers by this authorŠtěpán Janeček
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorJan E. J. Mertens
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorEric B. Fokam
Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon
Search for more papers by this authorTomasz Pyrcz
Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Nature Education Centre of the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Search for more papers by this authorJiří Doležal
Departments of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Trebon, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorJan Altman
Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Trebon, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorDavid Hořák
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Search for more papers by this authorKonrad Fiedler
Department of Botany & Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Robert Tropek
Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Correspondence
Robert Tropek, Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Vinicna 7, CZ-12844 Prague, Czechia.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorHandling Editor: Werner Ulrich
Abstract
Aim
Temporal dynamics of biodiversity along tropical elevational gradients are unknown. We studied seasonal changes of Lepidoptera biodiversity along the only complete forest elevational gradient in the Afrotropics. We focused on shifts of species richness patterns, seasonal turnover of communities and seasonal shifts of species’ elevational ranges, the latter often serving as an indicator of the global change effects on mountain ecosystems.
Location
Mount Cameroon, Cameroon.
Taxon
Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera).
Methods
We quantitatively sampled nine groups of Lepidoptera by bait-trapping (16,800 trap-days) and light-catching (126 nights) at seven elevations evenly distributed along the elevational gradient from sea level (30 m a.s.l.) to timberline (2,200 m a.s.l.). Sampling was repeated in three seasons.
Results
Altogether, 42,936 specimens of 1,099 species were recorded. A mid-elevation peak of species richness was detected for all groups but Eupterotidae. This peak shifted seasonally for five groups, most of them ascending during the dry season. Seasonal shifts of species’ elevational ranges were mostly responsible for these diversity pattern shifts along elevation: we found general upward shifts in fruit-feeding butterflies, fruit-feeding moths and Lymantriinae from beginning to end of the dry season. Contrarily, Arctiinae shifted upwards during the wet season. The average seasonal shifts of elevational ranges often exceeded 100 m and were even several times higher for numerous species.
Main conclusions
We report seasonal uphill and downhill shifts of several lepidopteran groups. The reported shifts can be driven by both delay in weather seasonality and shifts in resource availability, causing phenological delay of adult hatching and/or adult migrations. Such shifts may lead to misinterpretations of diversity patterns along elevation if seasonality is ignored. More importantly, considering the surprising extent of seasonal elevational shifts of species, we encourage taking account of such natural temporal dynamics while investigating the global climate change impact on communities of Lepidoptera in tropical mountains.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The datasets supporting this article are available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mgqnk98vr.
Supporting Information
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| jbi13740-sup-0001-Supinfo.docxWord document, 1.3 MB |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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