Introduction: In animals, body size is correlated with many aspects of natural history, such as life span, abundance, dispersal capacity and diet breadth. However, contrasting trends have been reported for the relationship between body size and these ecological traits. Methods: Fruit-feeding butterflies were used to investigate whether body size is correlated with species abundance, dispersal, permanence, and larval diet breadth in a Neotropical savanna in Brazil (Cerrado). We used Blomberg’s K and Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares models (PGLS) to measure phylogenetic signal strength in species traits and to estimate size–dispersal–diet breadth associations, while also taking shared ancestry into account. Results: 539 individuals from 27 species were captured, and 190 individuals were recaptured, representing a 35% recapture rate. We found body size to be negatively associated with butterfly abundance, and positively associated with dispersal level, distance traveled, number of traps visited, individual permanence, and diet breadth. These results indicate that larger butterflies are more likely to disperse over longer distances. Moreover, larger butterflies have more generalized larval diets, based on the number of host plant families, genera, and phylogenetic diversity of the host plants they consume as larvae. Smaller butterflies rely on fewer resources, which is reflected in their higher survival in small patches and may explain their lower dispersal ability and higher diet specialization. Nevertheless, lower dispersal ability may, if not compensated by large population sizes, threaten small-bodied species inhabiting environments, such as the Cerrado, which have intense deforestation rates. Conclusions: Body size is positively associated with dispersal and diet breadth for the fruit-feeding butterflies collected in this study.
Introduction: Diet and temporal specialists, especially those in tropical seasonal environments, require synchronous phenology with hosts. Species with life-history-traits that covary with temporal specialization may be particularly vulnerable to climate-driven changes in phenology. In the Cerrado, larger fruit-feeding butter ies species tend to be less abundant and more seasonal than their smallerbodied relatives. It is important to consider how ecological process and phylogenetic history are associated with these attributes.Aim/Methods: Here we evaluated the effects of climate and body size on the seasonality of abundance of fruit-feeding butter ies as well as their association with natural history traits including diet breadth and synchrony with fruits.Results: The distribution of abundances of these butter ies species was not uniform throughout the year, was associated with body size and shaped by habitat type and climate. Overall, hot and wet months were associated with higher abundance and species richness of these nymphalids in the Cerrado. Lineages of large-bodied species were less abundant, more seasonal and more generalized in larval diet breadth. In addition, these large-bodied clades were more tightly synchronized with fruit phenology. Discussion: Our ndings support the hypothesis that large and less abundant species to occur in a narrow temporal window and synchronized with fruit phenology.Implications for insect conservation: Particular attention should be given for the conservation of largerbodied temporal specialist species as they are vulnerable to phenology mismatching as a result of rapid global warming, but they will also face additional pressures with the advancing deforestation in the Cerrado.
1. The Cerrado biome is a biodiversity hotspot with a rich biota, and intense anthropogenic pressures. Despite its importance, it is still poorly understood how insects occupy different spatial dimensions of the landscape.2. We investigated how the beta diversity of plants influences the beta diversity of nymphalids at the regional-scale (gallery forest vs. savannah) and local-scale (transects). We expected greater beta-diversity in nymphalid assemblages in gallery forests given the heterogeneity of plants and canopy structure.3. We sampled nymphalids in each habitat monthly for 1 year and observed 3459 individuals from 62 species. Nymphalidae abundance was significantly higher in the understory than in the canopy. Specifically, only 18% of the individuals were captured in the canopy of gallery forests compared to 11% in savannah canopies. Species richness was higher in gallery forests (55 species) compared to savannahs (34 species).4. Savannah transects were very similar in plant species composition and butterfly assemblages within the understory and canopy, whereas the species composition of plants and butterflies in gallery forests was highly heterogeneous which is consistent with the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis.5. Gallery forests are spatially more complex, which probably results in higher niche availability that may contribute to reduce the community saturation and help to maintain greater beta diversity in these habitats.
Introduction: Body size is correlated with many aspects of an animal species' natural history, such as life span, abundance, dispersal capacity and diet breadth. However, contrasting trends have been reported for the relationship between body size and these ecological traits. Methods: Butterfly species from fruit-feeding guilds were used to investigate whether body size correlates with species abundances, dispersal, permanence, and diet breadth in a Neotropical savanna in Brazil (Cerrado). We used Blomberg’s K and Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares models (PGLS) to measure phylogenetic signal strength in species traits, and to estimate size-dispersal-diet breadth associations while taking shared ancestry into account. Results: 539 individuals from 27 species were captured, and 190 individuals were recaptured, representing a 35% recapture rate. We found that body size negatively influenced butterfly abundance. In contrast, body size was positively associated with dispersal levels, distance traveled, number of traps visited, individual permanence, and diet breadth. These results indicate that larger butterflies have a greater proportion of dispersing individuals over longer distances, as they permanence were detected over longer periods than their smaller relatives. Moreover, larger butterflies are more generalized, based on the number of host plant families and genera they consume. Smaller butterflies demand fewer resources, which is reflected in their higher survival in small patches, and may explain their lower dispersal ability, and higher diet specialization. Nevertheless, lower dispersal ability, if not compensated by large population sizes, may threaten small-bodied species inhabiting environments with intense deforestation rates, such as the Cerrado. Conclusions: Body size positively influences dispersal and diet breadth in the fruit-feeding butterflies collected in this study.
Body size correlates to many aspects of a species' natural history, such as life span, abundance, and dispersal capacity. However, contrasting trends have been reported for the relationship between body size and these ecological traits. We have marked and recaptured 539 individuals from 27 species of fruit-feeding butterflies to study how body size affect species abundances, dispersal, and detectability in a Neotropical savanna (Cerrado). Body size has shown to be an efficient predictor of abundance, however this association was not significant after phylogeny was taken into account. Moreover, body size has positively influenced the dispersal rate, distance, and individual detectability, indicating that larger butterflies have a greater proportion of dispersing individuals over longer distances, and were detected through longer periods, than their smaller relatives. Large butterflies demand more resources, which may be forcing them to disperse in search for better habitats. On the other hand, smaller species may be better able to survive in small patches, which is explained by their lower dispersal ability. Nevertheless, their lower dispersal ability, if not compensated by large population sizes, may threaten the small-bodied species inhabiting environments with intense deforestation rates, such as the Cerrado. Finally, our study highlights the importance to consider species evolutionary history in order to study complex trait-environment relationships.
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