Assessment of Species Distribution Patterns and Abundance of Plants and Noctuid Moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the Ark and Gorong Protected Area, South Khorasan Province, Iran
Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Associate Professor, Department of Rangeland and Watershed Management and Research Group of Drought and Climate Change, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran
2 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Birjand, Iran
Abstract
Nowedays, the study of plant–insect interactions is considered a critical indicator of biodiversity in ecological research and biodiversity conservation planning. The present study aimed to investigate the distribution patterns, species abundance, and co-occurrence of plant species and Noctuidae moths in the Ark and Gorong Protected Area in South Khorasan Province, Iran.Sampling of moths and plants was carried out at ten sites. Three representative sub-sites were selected in each site, and 30 quadrats is taken per site. Species density was estimated in each quadrat. Moth specimens were caught using light traps. The attracted moths were collected, counted, and identified in the laboratory. To assess spatial distribution, the mean/variance ratio, Morisita’s index, and standardized Morisita’s index were calculated for each species. The species abundance distributions (SADs) of both plants and moths were fitted to theoretical models. Model fit significance was established with maximum likelihood estimation, and the best model was decided on by Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). The findings indicated that most of the plant (73.33 %) and moth species (86.67 %) were clumped in their pattern of distribution. Additionally, abundance of species in both groups occurred best according to the log-normal model, typically typical of mature and complex communities. Analysis detected no significant correlation between the plant community matrix and the moth community matrix (r = 0.05, p ≥ 0.05). In general, the findings of this study in Ark and Gorong Protected Area showed that environmental complexity and habitat heterogeneity play an important role in determining the distribution pattern of plant species and Noctuid moths.
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