The butterfly diversity of different habitat types in Maijishan of Gansu

The butterfly diversity in different habitats of the Maijishan of Gansu Province was surveyed from 2003 to 2004. Three habitat types were classified based on altitude, climate, soil and vegetation: hilly cultivated land,forest and bare rock. Of the total collected 950 specimens, 64 species belonging to 43 genera and 8 families were identified. Species richness, species composition similarity (Jaccard index) and species diversity index (Shannon-Wiener index, H') were calculated for the three habitat types. The species richness decreased in the following sequence: forest .(8.835 9), hilly cultivated land .(6.144 2), and bare rock (1.471 1). On the other hand, the species diversity index decreased in a different sequence: forest (H'=.1.406 8), bare rock (H'=.0.974 6), and hilly cultivated land (H'=.0.920 1).The butterfly species composition between forest and hilly cultivated land had the highest similarity (Jaccard index=.0.222 1), with the second highest similarity between hilly cultivated land and bare rock (Jaccard index=.0.086 9), and the lowest similarity between forest and bare rock (Jaccard index=.0.065 6).