Can butterflies cope with city life? Butterfly diversity in a young megacity in southern China

Abstract

During 30 years of unprecedented urbanization, plant diversity in Shenzhen, a young megacity in southern China, has increased dramatically. Although strongly associated with plant diversity, butterfly diversity generally declines with urbanization, but this has not been investigated in Shenzhen. Considering the speed of urbanization in Shenzhen and the large number of city parks, we investigated butterfly diversity in Shenzhen parks. We measured butterfly species richness in four microhabitats (groves, hedges, flowerbeds, and unmanaged areas) across 10 parks and examined the relationship with three park variables: park age, park size, and distance from the central business district. Butterflies were identified based on wing morphology and DNA barcoding. We collected 1933 butterflies belonging to 74 species from six families; 20% of the species were considered rare. Butterfly species richness showed weak negative correlations with park age and distance from the central business district, but the positive correlation with park size was statistically significant (p = 0.001). Among microhabitat types, highest species richness was recorded in unmanaged areas. Our findings are consistent with others in suggesting that to promote urban butterfly diversity it is necessary to make parks as large as possible and to set aside areas for limited management. In comparison to neighbouring cities, Shenzhen parks have high butterfly diversity.Key words: butterflies, DNA barcoding, Shenzhen, urban parks, urbanization.Résumé : Au cours d'une 30 d'années d'urbanisation sans précédent, la diversité des plantes dans Shenzhen, une jeune mégapole du sud de la Chine, a augmenté de manière dramatique. Bien qu'étroitement associée à la diversité végétale, la diversité des papillons diminue généralement avec l'urbanisation, mais celle-ci n'a pas été étudiée à Shenzhen. Considérant la rapidité de l'urbanisation à Shenzhen et le grand nombre de parcs urbains, les auteurs ont étudié la diversité des papillons dans les parcs de Shenzhen. Les auteurs ont mesuré la diversité des espèces de papillons au sein de quatre micro-habitats (bosquets, haies, plate-bandes et zones non aménagées) dans 10 parcs et ils ont examiné la relation avec les variables : l'âge du parc, sa taille et la distance séparant le parc d'un quartier des affaires central. Les papillons ont été identifiés sur la base de la morphologie de leurs ailes et au moyen de l'analyse de codes à barres d'ADN. Les auteurs ont recueilli 1933 papillons appartenant à 74 espèces et six familles; 20 % des espèces étaient considérées comme étant rares. Le diversité des espèces présentait une faible corrélation négative avec l'âge du parc et la distance séparant celui-ci d'un quartier central, mais une corrélation positive avec la taille du parc était statistiquement significative (p = 0,001). Parmi les types de micro-habitats, la plus grande diversité en espèces a été rencontrée au sein des zones non aménagées. Ces observations concordent avec les données provenant d'ailleurs ce qui s...

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