Diversity of Lepidoptera at R.E.A.C.H Biod Centre, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Zamari Aris, Nur Amira Zamari Aris and Zakaria, Nursyahirah and Arumugam, Nivaarani (2017) Diversity of Lepidoptera at R.E.A.C.H Biod Centre, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. [Journal / Magazine]

PDF 05.pdf Restricted to Repository staff only Download (645kB)

Abstract

Lepidopteran diversity at the16-years old rehabilitated forest that surrounds the R.E.A.C.H BioD Centre was studied from July to August 2016. This forest is currently maintained by the Regional Environmental Awareness Cameron Highlands (R.E.A.C.H), a non-governmental organization (NGO) established by local residents of the Cameron Highlands. The 50 hectares forest with more than 9000 planted trees is located at 4° 31’12.2’’ N, 101° 23’40.1’’E with elevation of 1781m a.s.l. Order Lepidoptera comprises the day-flying butterflies and nightflying moths. Hence, butterflies were recorded using ten butterfly traps and manual catchment using an aerial net, while moths were recorded using two light traps. A total of 11 butterfly species (four families) and 48 moth species (ten families) were recorded during the 24 days of sampling. Moths were recorded with higher diversity (81.4%; H’=3.22) compared to butterflies (18.6%; H’=2.15). Both butterflies and moths are distributed evenly at the R.E.A.C.H BioD Centre as the Pielou’s evenness index (J) is 0.90 and 0.83 respectively. As the forest surrounding the R.E.A.C.H BioD Centre is a rehabilitated forest, the presence of lepidopterans in the forest proves that the rehabilitation effort is achieving its objective. This is in line with previous studies that have proven that lepidopterans are a good bioindicator of healthy forest ecosystem. Due to unavailability of previous data on lepidopterans diversity before the rehabilitation activity, this study is only able to show that the trees planted through the rehabilitation program are successful in attracting lepidopterans species to the forest. The species might be from the nearest forest, probably Gunung Brinchang, as the BioD Centre situated at the edge of Gunung Brinchang. This is proved by data obtained in this study, as most of the collected lepidopterans are forest species. Further diversity studies need to be conducted biannually at the forest to identify changes in lepidopterans diversity and abundance.

Actions (login required)

View Item