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Tuo Feng

  • Biodiversity Journal, 7 (1): 025-032

    Xiongwen Chen & Tuo Feng
    Patterns of Butterfly distribution in Alabama, USA (Lepidoptera)

    ABSTRACT
    Butterflies (Lepidoptera) are an iconic group of insects and are emphasized in ecological research and biodiversity conservation due to the role in ecological processes. Alabama (USA) has 139 species of butterflies in 6 families based on the previous field surveys. In this study the information from the previous field survey was analyzed with environmental information for the general patterns across 67 counties of Alabama. The results indicate that the counties with the higher butterfly species are mainly within the metropolitan areas; power-law relationship exists between average species number and occupied county number; there is higher number of butterfly species at counties with either the highest or the lowest forest coverage; there is positive correlation between latitude and butterfly species density; counties with the lowest or the highest species number usually have higher standard deviations in annual air temperature or precipitation; butterflies with a big distribution area do not have significantly bigger wing size in comparison to ones with a small distribution area; and with the increase of latitude, the average wing size of butterflies increases. The results provide new understanding for the butterfly distribution at a regional level.