Impact of forest management systems on diversity and abundance of butterflies in the Asenanyo Forest Reserve, Ghana
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Date
June, 2016
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Abstract
Every forest management practice has the potential to affect the structural elements of
the forest and the habitat conditions of the biodiversity living in it. Forest management
practices such as selective logging and plantation establishment have been widely
practice, however, there is limited information on the potential effect of these systems
butterfly diversity and abundance. This study was conducted in the Asenanyo River
Forest Reserve to determine the impact of forest management systems on the diversity
and abundance of butterflies in the forest reserve. Transect method using standard fruit
baited traps were employed to capture butterflies in an unlogged, selectively logged and
plantation forest management zones. In each study site, six transects were located at
least 500 m apart and on each transect, eight trap net stations spaced at 100 m were
installed for a more quantitative butterfly diversity sampling. Shannon-Wiener and
Simpson‘s diversity indexes were used to analyze for species richness and diversity of
butterflies. A total of 2,314 butterfly specimens belonging to 87 species, 41genera and 5
families were trapped in the understory of the three management zones in the forest
reserve. The selective logged zone recorded the largest number of butterflies (968)
followed by unlogged (880) whiles the plantation recorded the least butterflies of (466).
Shannon-Wiener and Simpson‘s indices for the selectively logged forest and unlogged
forest were similar. Shannon-Wiener and Simpson‘s indices were however significantly
higher in the unlogged than in the plantation forest (P< 0.05). The findings of the study
indicated that butterfly diversity and abundance were directly related to plant diversity,
abundance and canopy cover, thus highlighting the important role vegetation play in
determining butterfly assemblages in the forest. The study further showed that although
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plantations are generally poor substitutes for the butterfly habitat compared to intact
forest, they did provide habitat of some form for forest butterflies. It is recommended
that further studies should consider vertical stratification in the forest reserve and the
impact of seasonal variations on the butterfly species
Description
A thesis submitted to The Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Science,