Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of habitat disturbance can be subtle yet significant: biodiversity of hawkmoth-assemblages (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) in Southeast-Asia

  • Chapter
Arthropod Diversity and Conservation

Part of the book series: Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation ((TOBC,volume 1))

Abstract

Sphingid biodiversity was compared in a large number of light-trapping samples on Borneo and elsewhere in the Indo-Australian tropics, using our own quantitative light-trapping samples supplemented by other collectors’ published and unpublished data. No effects of anthropogenic habitat disturbance on the within-habitat diversity (measured as Fisher’s α) were observed, but the faunal composition of assemblages differs significantly under varying degrees of disturbance. Altitude, year of sampling and sampling regime (full night vs. part of the night) were identified as additional parameters that influence the composition of local samples. The frequency of subfamilies in samples varies under different disturbance regimes: Smerinthinae decline along a gradient from primary habitats to heavily disturbed sites, while Macroglossinae show the reverse trend. Connections between the reactions of subfamilies to disturbance and altitude and potential life-history differences between the subfamilies are discussed. Hypothetically, capital breeding Smerinthinae might be commoner and more speciose in stable primary habitats, whereas many income breeding Macroglossinae are probably adapted to thrive in ephemeral, disturbed habitats. Furthermore, we show that estimates from local samples fall short of the total known species richness of Borneo by about 10%.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Barlow H.S. and Woiwod I.P. 1993. Seasonality and diversity of Macrolepidoptera in two lowland sites in Dumoga-Bone National Park, Sulawesi Utara. In: Knight W.J. (ed.), Insects and the Rain Forests of South-East Asia (Wallacea). Royal Entomological Society, London, pp. 167–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck J. and Kitching I.J. 2004. The Sphingidae of Southeast-Asia, incl. New Guinea, Bismark and Solomon Islands (including pictures and range-maps for all species and checklists for 114 islands). http://www.sphingidae.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck J. and Linsenmair K.E.. Feasibility of light-trapping in community research of moths: attraction radius of light, completeness of samples, nightly flight times and seasonality of Southeast-Asian hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). J. Res. Lepidoptera 39, in press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck J., Schulze C.H., Linsenmair K.E. and Fiedler K. 2002. From forest to farmland: diversity of geometrid moths along two habitat gradients on Borneo. J. Trop. Ecol. 18: 33–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck J. 2005. The Macroecology of Southeast-Asian Hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). PhD thesis. University of Würzburg (Germany). Available online at http://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/opus/volltexte/2005/1300/.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjørnstad O.N., Begon M., Stenseth N.C., Falck W., Sait S.M. and Thompson D.J. 1998. Population dynamics of the Indian meal moth: demographic stochasticity and delayed regulatory mechanisms. J. Anim. Ecol. 67: 110–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boggs C.L. 1997. Reproductive allocation from reserves and income in butterfly species with differing adult diets. Ecology 78: 181–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowles I.A., Rice R.A., Mittermeier R.A. and da Fonseca G.A.B 1998. Logging and tropical forest conservation. Science 280: 1899–1900.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brehm G. and Fiedler K. 2004. Ordinating tropical moth ensembles from a elevational gradient: a comparison of common methods. J. Trop. Ecol. 20: 165–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brühl C.A. 2001. Leaf-litter Ant Communities in Tropical Lowland Rain Forest in Sabah, Malaysia: Effects of Forest Disturbance and Fragmentation. Ph.D. thesis, Universität Würzburg, Germany.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brühl C.A., Gunasalam G. and Linsenmair K.E. 1998. Stratification of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in a primary rain forest in Sabah, Borneo. J. Trop. Ecol. 14: 285–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chey V.K. 1994. Comparison of Biodiversity between Plantations and Natural Forests in Sabah Using Moths as Indicators. Ph.D. thesis, University of Oxford, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chey V.K. 2002. Comparison of moth diversity between lightly and heavily logged sites in a tropical rainforest. Malay. Nat. J. 56(1): 23–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chey V.K., Holloway J.D. and Speight M.R. 1997. Diversity of moths in forest plantations and natural forests in Sabah. Bull. Entomol. Res. 87: 371–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cleary D.F.R. and Mooers A.Ø. 2004. Butterfly species richness and community composition in forests affected by ENSO-induced burning and habitat isolation in Borneo. J. Trop. Ecol. 20: 359–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colwell R.K. 2000. EstimateS: statistical estimation of species richness and shared species from samples. Version 5.01. User’s Guide and application published at: http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/estimates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colwell R.K. and Lees D.C. 2000. The mid-domain effect: geometric constraints on the geography of species richness. Trends Evol. Ecol. 15: 70–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dennis R.L.H. 2003. Towards a functional resource-based concept of habitat: a butterfly biology viewpoint. Oikos 102: 417–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fermon H., Waltert M., Vane-Wright R.I. and Mühlenberg M. 2005. Forest use and vertical stratification in fruit-feeding butterflies of Sulawesi, Indonesia: impacts of conservation. Biodiv. Conserv. 14: 333–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fielder K. and Schulze C.H. 2004. Forest modification affects diversity, but not dynamics of speciose tropical pyraloid moth communities. Biotropica 36: 615–627.

    Google Scholar 

  • Floren A., Freking A., Biehl M. and Linsenmair K.E. 2001. Anthropogenic disturbance changes the structure of arboreal tropical ant communities. Ecography 24: 547–554.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gathorne-Hardy F.J., Jones D.T. and Syaukani 2002. A regional perspective on the effects of human disturbance on the termites of Sundaland. Biodiv. Cons erv. 11: 1991–2006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gotelli N. and Colwell R.K. 2001. Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecol. Lett. 4: 379–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grassle J.F. and Smith W. 1976. A similarity measure sensitive to the contribution of rare species and its use in investigation of variation in marine benthic communities. Oecologia 25: 13–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guisan A., Edwards T.C.Jr. and Hastie T. 2002. Generalized linear and generalized additive models in studies of species distributions: setting the scene. Ecol. Model. 157: 89–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamer K.C. and Hill J.K. 2000. Scale-dependent effects of habitat disturbance on species richness in tropical forests. Conserv. Biol. 14: 1435–1440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamer K.C., Hill J.K., Lace L.A. and Langan A.M. 1997. Ecological and biogeographical effects of forest disturbance on tropical butterflies of Sumba, Indonesia. J. Biogeogr. 24: 67–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammond P. 1994. Practical approaches to the estimation of the extent of biodiversity in specious groups. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. (B) 345: 119–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Häuser C.L., Schulze C.H. and Fiedler K. 1997. The butterfly species (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Rhophalocera) of Kinabalu Park, Sabah. Raffles Bull. Zool. 45: 281–304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek L.-A.C. and Buzas M.A. 1997. Surveying Natural Populations. Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hector A., Joshi J., Lawler S.P., Spehn E.M. and Wilby A. 2001. Conservation implications of the link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Oecologia 129: 624–628.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helmkampf M.E., Schwarz C.J., Maklarim B. Lakim and Beck J.. A first look at the biodiversity of praying mantids (Insecta: Mantodea) in Sabah, Borneo. Sabah Parks Nat. J., in press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hochberg Y. 1988. A sharper Bonferroni procedure for multiple tests of significance. Biometrika 75: 800–802.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holloway J.D. and Nielsen E.S. 1999. Biogeography of the Lepidoptera. In: Kristensen N.P. (issue ed.), Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies, Vol. 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie, Band IV: Arthropoda: Insecta. (ed. M. Fischer), part 35, W. de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 423–462.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holloway J.D. 1976. Moths of Borneo with Special Reference to Mt. Kinabalu. Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holloway J.D. 1984. The larger moths of the Gunung Mulu National Park — a preliminary assessment of their distribution, ecology, and potential as environmental indicators. Sarawak Museum J. Kuching 51 (New Series), Special Issue 2: 148–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holloway J.D. 1987. The Moths of Borneo, Part 3: Lasiocampidae, Eupterotidae, Bombycidae, Brahmaeidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae. The Malay Nature Society and Southdene Sdn. Bhd, Kuala Lumpur.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holloway J.D. 1993. Aspects of the biogeography and ecology of the Seram moth fauna. In: Edwards I.D., MacDonald A.A. and Proctor J. (eds), Natural History of Seram, Maluku, Indonesia, pp. 91–115. Raleigh International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holloway J.D. 1998. The impact of traditional and modern cultivation practices, including forestry, on Lepidoptera diversity in Malaysia and Indonesia. In: Newberry D.M., Prins H.H.T. and Brown N.D. (eds.). Dynamics of Tropical Communities. 37th Symposium of the British Ecological Society, London, 507–597.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holloway J.D., Kirk-Spriggs A.H. and Chey V.K. 1992. The response of some rain forest insect groups to logging and conversion to plantation. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. (B) 335: 425–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holloway J.D., Robinson G.S. and Tuck K.R. 1990. Zonation in the Lepidoptera of northern Sulawesi. In: Knight W.J. and Holloway J.D. (eds), Insects and the Rain Forests of South East Asia (Wallacea). The Royal Entomological Society of London, pp. 153–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Intachat J., Holloway J.D. and Staines H. 2001. Effects of weather and phenology on the abundance and diversity of geometroid moths in a natural Malaysian rain forest. J. Trop. Ecol. 17: 411–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Itioka T. and Yamauti M. 2004. Severe drought, leafing phenology, leaf damage and lepidopteran abundance in the canopy of a Bornean aseasonal tropical rain forest. J. Trop. Ecol. 20: 479–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janzen D.H. 1984. Two ways to be a tropical big moth: Santa Rosa saturniids and sphingids. In: Dawkins R. and Ridley M. (eds), Oxford Surveys in Evolutionary Biology. 1: 85–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johns A.D. 1992. Vertebrate responses to selective logging: implications for the design of logging systems. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. (B) 335: 437–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaitala V., Tesar D. and Ranta E. 2002. Semelparity versus iteroparity and the number of age groups. Evolution. Ecol. Res. 4: 169–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenney A.J. and Krebs C.J. 1998. Programs for Ecological Methodology, Version 5.2. Published at http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~krebs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitayama K. 1992. An altitudinal transect of the vegetation on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Vegetatio 102: 149–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kitayama K., Lakim M. and Wahab M.Z. 1999. Climate profile of Mount Kinabalu during Late 1995-early 1998 with Special Reference to the 1998 Drought. Sabah Parks Nat. J. 2: 85–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitching I.J. and Cadiou J.-M. 2000. Hawkmoths of the world. The Natural History Museum, Cornell University Press, london.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krishnamani R., Kumar A. and Harte J. 2004. Estimating species richness at large spatial scales using data from small discrete plots. Ecography 27: 637–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawton J.H., Bignell D.E., Bolton B., Bloemers G.F., Eggleton P., Hammond P.M., Hodda M., Holt R.D., Larsoen T.B., MAwdsley N.A., Stork N.E., Srivastava D.S and Watt A.D. 1998. Biodiversity inventories, indicator taxa and effects of habitat modification in tropical forest. Nature 391: 72–76.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lawton J.H. 2000. Community Ecology in a Changing World. Excellence in Ecology 11. Ecology Institute, Oldendorf/Luhe, Germany.

    Google Scholar 

  • Legendre P. and Legendre L. 1998. Numerical Ecology. Developments in Environmental Modelling 20, 2nd ed. Elsevier, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leon-Cortez J.L., Soberon-Mainero J. and Llorente-Bousquets J. 1998. Assessing completeness of Mexican sphinx moths inventories through species accumulation functions. Diversity and Distribution 4: 37–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh C.W., Tay J., Pinard M.A., Putz F.E. and Sullivan T.E. 1996. Reduced impact logging: a pilot project in Sabah, Malaysia. In: Schulte A. and Schöne D. (eds), Dipterocarp Forest Ecosystems — Towards Sustainable Management. World Scientific Publishing, Singaporepp. 293–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maurer B.A. 1999. Untangling Ecological Complexity — The Macroscopic Perspective. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCain C.M. 2004. The mid-domain effect applied to elevational gradients: species richness of small mammals in Costa Rica. J. Biogeogr. 31: 19–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCoy Earl D. 1990. The distribution of insects along elevational gradients. Oikos 58: 313–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNally R. 2000. Regression and model-building in conservation biology, biogeography and ecology: The distinction between — and reconciliation of — ‘predictive’ and ‘explanatory’ models. Biodiv. Conserv. 9: 644–671.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller W.E. 1997. Diversity and evolution of tongue length in hawkmoths (Sphingidae). J. Lepidopterist Soc. 51: 9–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moreno C.E. and Halffter G. 2000. Assessing the completeness of bat biodiversity inventories using species accumulation curves. J. Appl. Ecol. 37: 149–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novotny V. and Basset Y. 1998. Seasonality of sap-sucking insects (Achenorryncha, Hemiptera) feeding on Ficus (Moraceae) in a lowland rainforest in New Guinea. Oecologia 115: 514–522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novotny V., Miller S.E., Basset Y., Cizek L., Drozd P., Darrow K. and Leps J. 2002. Predictably simple: communities of caterpillars feeding on rainforest trees in Papua New Guinea. Proc. R. Soc. (B) 269: 2337–2344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons M. 1999. The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea. Their Systematics and Biology. Academic Press, San Diego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearson D.I. 1994. Selecting indicator taxa for the quantitative assessment of biodiversity. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. (B) 345: 75–79.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen F.T. and Meier R. 2003. Testing species richness estimation methods on single-sample collection data using the Danish Diptera. Biodiv. Conserv. 12: 667–686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson G.S., Ackery P.R., Kitching I.J., Beccaloni G.W. and Hernández L.M. 2001. HOSTS — a database of the hostplants of the world’s Lepidoptera. Internet website at http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/hostplants/index.html.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulze C.H. and Beck J. 1999. A record of proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) (Mammalia: Primates: Ceropithecidae) from Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia. Sabah Parks Nat. J. 2: 23–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulze C.H. and Fiedler K. 1997. Patterns of diversity and vertical stratification in hawkmoths of a Bornean rain forest. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für allgemeine und angewandte Entomologie Band 11/Heft, 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulze C.H. and Fiedler K. 2003. Hawkmoth diversity in northern Borneo does not reflect the influence of anthropogenic habitat disturbance. Ecotropica 9: 99–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulze C.H. 2000. Auswirkungen anthropogener Störungen auf die Diversität von Herbivoren — Analyse von NachtfalterzÖnosen entlang von Habitatgradienten in Ost-Malaysia. Universität Bayreuth, Germany. Ph.D. thesis

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulze C.H., Häuser C.L. and Mohamend Maryati 2000. A Checklist of the Hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) of Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Borneo. Malay. Nat. J. 54: 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulze C.H., Waltert M., Kessler P.J.A., Pitopang R., Shahbuddin, Veddeler D., Mühlenberg M., Gradstein S.R., Leuschner C., Steffan-Dewentter I. and Tscharntke T. 2004. Biodiversity indicator groups of tropical land-use systems: Comparing plants, birds and insects. Ecol. Applicat. 14: 1321–1333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selas V., Hogstadt O., Kobro S. and Rafoss T. 2004. Can sunspot activity and ultraviolet-B radiation explain cyclic outbreaks of forest moth pest species? Proc. R. Soc. (London) B 271: 1897–1901.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon U. and Linsenmair K.E. 2001. Arthorpods in tropical oaks: differences in their spatial distributions within tree crowns. Plant Ecol. 153: 179–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slik J.W.F. 2004. El Niño droughts and their effects on tree species composition and diversity in tropical raind forests. Oecologia 141: 114–120.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sodhi N.S., Lian Pin Koh, Brook B.W. and Ng P.K.L. 2004. Southeast-Asian biodiversity: an impending disaster. Trends Ecol. Evol. 19: 654–660.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Southwood T.R.E. and Henderson P.A. 2000. Ecological Methods, 3rd ed. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • StatSoft Inc. 2003. STATISTICA, Version 6. Computer program and manual at www.statsoft.com.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tammaru T. and Haukioja E. 1996. Capital breeders and income breeders among Lepidoptera — consequences to population dynamics. Oikos 77: 561–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tennent W.J. 1991. Notes on some Borneo hawk moths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) including Eupanacra hollowayi sp. n. and Macroglossum amoenum Rothschild and Jordan, new to Borneo. Entomol. Rec. 103: 223–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ugland K.I., Gray J.S. and Ellingsen K.E. 2003. The species-accumulation curve and estimation of species richness. J. Anim. Ecol. 72: 888–897.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner T. 1999. Arboreal Chrysomelid community structure and faunal overlap between different types of forest in central Africa. Adv. Chrysomelidae Biol. I: 247–270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb C.O. 2000. Exploring the phylogenetic structure of ecological communities: an example for rain forest trees. Am. Nat. 156: 145–155.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whitmore T.C. 1990. An Introduction to Tropical Rainforests. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willott S.J. 1999. The effect of selective logging on the distribution of moths in a Bornean rainforest. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. (B) 354: 1783–1790.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wolda H. 1987. Altitude, habitat and tropical insect diversity. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 30: 313–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yela J.L. and Holyoak M. 1997. Effects of moonlight and meteorological factors on light and bait trap catches of noctuid moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Environ. Entomol. 26: 1283–1290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaidi M.I. and Chong M.S. 1995. Moth fauna of Sayap — Kinabalu Park, Sabah: a preliminary survey and assessment. In: Ismail G. and bin Din L. (eds), A Scientific Journey through Borneo. Sayap-Kinabalu Park, Sabah, pp 201–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zapata F.A., Gaston K. J. and Chown S.L. 2003. Mid-domain models of species richness gradients: assumptions, methods and evidence. J. Anim. Ecol. 72: 677–690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany

    Jan Beck & K. Eduard Linsenmair

  2. Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Ian J. Kitching

  3. Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre, Dept. of Biology, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Tungku Link, Gadong, BE1410, Brunei

    Jan Beck

Authors
  1. Jan Beck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ian J. Kitching
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. K. Eduard Linsenmair
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

David L. Hawksworth Alan T. Bull

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2006 Springer

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Beck, J., Kitching, I.J., Linsenmair, K.E. (2006). Effects of habitat disturbance can be subtle yet significant: biodiversity of hawkmoth-assemblages (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) in Southeast-Asia. In: Hawksworth, D.L., Bull, A.T. (eds) Arthropod Diversity and Conservation. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5204-0_28

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation