Diversity and fauna of butterflies in Baxian Mountain State Nature Reserves

The butterfly species in Baxian Mountain Nature Reserves of Tianjin was studied based on the collection in five samples:(a) Xiaogang,(b) Shanmen→Taiping Gou,(c) Shanmen→Zhandao,(d) Shanmen→Xiangu Spring and(e) Xiangu Spring→Minganliang.A total of 2218 butterfly specimens were collected,of which 88 species in 56 genera under eight families were identified.Nymphalidae was the dominant family,with the most species number(35) and individuals(784);Parnassiidae and Libytheidae contain only one species each,which was regarded as the rare species.The diversity index,the specific richness,the dominance index,the evenness index and the similarity coefficient of the five habitats were calculated and analyzed.The results showed that the change of the environmental quality influenced the diversity of butterfly remarkably.The greater the influence of human activity on the environment and forest vegetation,the lower the diversity index of the butterfly was.In habitat(d),the favorable environmental quality led to the most stable and diverse plant community,which was fit for butterflies to exist and breed.So the diversity index and the specific richness were the greatest,but the dominance index was the lowest.In habitat(a),the simple plant community resulted in the relatively poor environmental quality,where the diversity index,the specific richness and evenness index were the lowest,but the dominance index was the highest.The diversity index in habitat(e) was lower than that in habitat(d) and(c),which accorded with the intermediate disturbance hypothesis.Therefore,we suggest that the Administrative Bureau of Baxian Mountain Reserves should restore and improve the environmental quality,exploit tourism reasonably,and exploit and utilize the butterfly resources moderately,so that the endangered and rare species can be protected effectively.The preliminary analysis of our material also revealed that the percentage of the widely distributed species,the Palearctic species and the Oriental species was 56.82%,35.23% and 7.95% respectively in Baxian Mountain Nature Reserves,the widely distributed species were absolutely dominant,and the Palearctic species were obviously more than the Oriental species.