Butterfly community composition within a tropical urban landscape is influenced by habitat type and temperature

The specific factors that influence spatial community or population dynamics are often elusive, and even less known is the impact of tropical urban landscapes on diverse species community assemblages.To address this knowledge gap, we used a survey data set with 510 fruit-feeding butterflies comprising 20 species across two heterogeneous habitats within a city in Nigeria. Next, we constructed generalised linear mixed models to understand the differential responses of the butterfly community to changes in environmental conditions across habitats.Butterfly species community assemblages significantly differed between the two urban habitats, with butterfly species significantly higher in the savannah woodland compared with the gallery forest due to the optimal daily temperatures of the savannah woodland. However, butterfly richness was lower in the gallery forest due to extreme environmental conditions.This study highlights that butterfly community changes in tropical urban landscapes are possibly responding to local microclimates and spatial heterogeneity across habitats.For evidence-based conservation management of tropical butterfly biodiversity, there would be need for a long-term, extensive and systematic insect monitoring programme for butterflies across disturbed and undisturbed fragmented habitats harbouring diverse insect species. Butterfly species diversity significantly differed between the two urban habitat patches, with butterfly species diversity significantly higher in the savannah woodland than in the gallery forest.Butterfly species richness was also higher in the savannah woodland because of the habitat's warmer temperatures.Changes in environmental conditions did not significantly influence butterfly species abundance across habitat patches in a tropical city.image

Automated summary

This study identifies the significant impact of tropical urban landscapes on butterfly community assemblages, potentially due to local microclimates and spatial heterogeneity across habitats. A long-term, extensive and systematic insect monitoring program is needed to conserve tropical butterfly biodiversity.