Abstract
Variations in diel activity among hyperdiverse tropical communities of moths, despite representing a key component of niche partitioning between species, have barely been studied so far. Using light trapping from dawn to sunset over a 1-year period in French Guiana, we investigated these variations within and between two families of moths (Sphingidae and Saturniidae). Our results revealed contrasting patterns in flight activity at night between Sphingidae and Saturniidae. Sphingidae reached their peak in species richness and abundance between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m., followed by a decrease around 11:00 p.m. to midnight, whereas Saturniidae were continuously present throughout the night, with a peak around midnight. In addition, we found changes in diel activity among some of the most common genera in each family, highlighting distinct behavioral, physiological, and functional traits among taxa. Given differences in flight activity at different taxonomic levels, it is strongly recommended to monitor by light trapping throughout the night to effectively sample saturniid and sphingid assemblages, even though the activity of Sphingidae sharply declines after midnight. These results improve the general natural history information of tropical moths and reinforce the need of further research on the ecological and taxonomic consequences of differences in diel activity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barber JR, Kawahara AY (2013) Hawkmoths produce anti-bat ultrasound. Biol Lett 9(4):20130161
Beck J, Linsenmair KE (2006) 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 Lep 39:18–36
Bonebrake TC, Ponisio LC, Boggs CL, Ehrlich PR (2010) More than just indicators: a review of tropical butterfly ecology and conservation. Biol Conserv 143:1831–1841
Brehm G (2002) Diversity of geometrid moths in a montane rainforest in Ecuador. PhD-thesis, University of Bayreuth (Germany)
Brehm G, Homeier J, Fiedler K (2003) Beta diversity of geometrid moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in an Andean montae rainforest. Divers Distrib 9:351–366
Brown KS, Freitas AVL (2006) Atlantic forest butterflies: indicators for landscape conservation. Biotropica 32(4):934–956
DeVries PJ, Alexander LG, Chacon IA, Fordyce JA (2012) Similarity and difference among rainforest fruit-feeding butterfly communities in Central and South America. J Anim Ecol 81:472–482
Dotterl S, Jahreiss K, Jhumur US, Jurgens A (2012) Temporal variation of flower scent in Silene otites (Caryophyllaceae): a species with a mixed pollination system. Bot J Linn Soc 169:447–460
Intachat J, Woiwod IP (1999) Trap design for monitoring moth biodiversity in tropical rainforests. Bull Entomol Res 89:153–163
Janzen DH (1984) Two ways to be a tropical big moth: Santa Rosa saturniids and sphingids. In: Dawkins R, Ridley M (eds) Oxford surveys in evolutionary biology 1. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 85–140
Kitching IJ, Cadiou JM (2000) Hawkmoths of the world. The Natural History Museum, London. Cornell University Press, London, 256 p
Kitching RL, Orr AG, Thalib L, Mitchell H, Hopkins MS, Graham AW (2000) Moth assemblages as indicators of environmental quality in remnants of upland Australian rain forest. J Appl Ecol 37:284–297
Lawton JH, May RM (1995) Extinction rates. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 233 p
Merckx T, Slade EM (2014) Macro-moth families differ in their attraction to light: implications for light-trap monitoring programmes. Insect Conserv Divers 7:453–461
Novotny V, Miller SE, Basset Y, Cizek L, Darrow K, Kaupa B, Kua J, Weiblen G (2005) An altitudinal comparison of caterpillar (Lepidoptera) assemblages on Ficus trees in Papua New Guinea. J Biogeogr 32:1303–1314
Pimm SL, Ayres M, Balmford A, Branch G, Brandon K et al (2001) Can we defy nature’s end? Science 293:2207–2208
Pollard E (1977) A method for assessing changes in the abundance of butterflies. Biol Conserv 12(2):115–134
Rodriguez-Castañeda G, Dyer LA, Brehm G, Connahs H, Forkner RE, Walla TR (2010) Tropical forests are not flat: how mountains affect herbivore diversity. Ecol Lett 13:1348–1357
Schulze CH (2000) Auswirkungen anthropogener Störungen auf die Diversität von Herbivoren Analyse von Nachtfalterzönosen entlang von Habitatgradienten in Ost-Malaysia PhD-thesis Universität Bayreuth (Germany)
Acknowledgments
We thank Bernard Hermier for help during field work. We are grateful to Jean-Marc Thévenin (CIRAD French Guiana) for permission to work at Combi-Forêt research station. Research was supported by the Fond Social Européen (FSE) to G.P.A. Lamarre. I. Mendoza was funded by a Brazilian FAPESP fellowship (2012/21601-0). Phil. J. DeVries gave valuable comments to previous drafts of this paper. This work has benefited from an “Investissement d’Avenir” grant managed by Agence Nationale de la Recherche (CEBA. ANR-10-LABX-25-01).
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13744-014-0264-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Edited by André VL Freitas – Unicamp
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Online Supplementary Resource S1
(DOC 105 kb)
Online Supplementary Resource S2
(DOC 79 kb)
Online Supplementary Resource S3
(DOC 200 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lamarre, G.P.A., Mendoza, I., Rougerie, R. et al. Stay Out (Almost) All Night: Contrasting Responses in Flight Activity Among Tropical Moth Assemblages. Neotrop Entomol 44, 109–115 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-014-0264-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-014-0264-3