ABSTRACT
Species diversity and distribution of butterflies (Lepidoptera; Rhopalocera)of the urban forest of Muhammad Sabki, Jambi were studied from January toFebruary 2012. The urban forest was divided into four different habitat types: thePark, the Stream side, the Rubber forest, and the Mixed forest. Two transectroutes were established for each habitat type. Observations were made on thenumber of individuals of each species of butterflies found within the transects.Data were analyzed by Shannon-Wiener, Evenness, and Sorenson indices. A totalof 43 species with 3241 individuals of six families (Hesperiidae, Papilionidae,Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, and Riodinidae) of butterflies were recorded.Nymphalidae was the most dominating family with the highest species richness atthe urban forest. The highest number of butterfly species was recorded at theRubber forest and the Stream side (37 species each), followed by the Park (33species) and the Mixed forest (27 species). The most abundant butterflies werefound at the Rubber Forest, and the least were in the Stream side. Two species(Eurema hecabe and Mycalesis janardana) were observed consistently at allhabitat types, and the former was the most abundant species. The highest speciesdiversity and evenness indices were found in the Rubber Forest, while the lowestwere in the Stream Side. Species diversity and evennes indices of butterflies ofthe urban forest can be categorized as low and low to moderate respectively.Based on their similarity indices of species (IS), the community of butterfly of theurban forest consisted of three communities: the Park, the Stream Side-RubberForest, and the Mixed Forest. The highest IS was found in the Stream Side-Rubber Forest. Nevertheless, high similarity indices (>0.7) of the butterfliesbetween communities indicating that the communities of the butterfly had almostsimilar species composition, and most species were widely distributed across allhabitat types of the urban forest. |
