Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2018; 6(2): 2946-2953 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 Butterflies diversity in the temperate fruit tree JEZS 2018; 6(2): 2946-2953 © 2018 JEZS orchards of Kumaun Himalaya, Uttarakhand, Received: 16-01-2018 Accepted: 17-02-2018 India Fasuil Farooq Insect Biodiversity Laboratory, Department of Zoology Fasuil Farooq and Manoj Kumar Arya D.S.B. Campus, Kumaun University, Nainital, Abstract Uttarakhand, India The present study investigated the species richness, abundance and distribution of butterflies in the Manoj Kumar Arya temperate fruit tree orchards of district-Nainital, Kumaun Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India and were carried Insect Biodiversity Laboratory, out in three temperate fruit tree orchards from July 2016 to June 2017, located at Satbunga, Khabrar and Department of Zoology orchards of Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH), Mukteshwar. A total of 1247 individuals D.S.B. Campus, Kumaun of butterflies representing 33 species and 4 families were recorded during the course of study. University, Nainital, Nymphalidae was the most dominant family and supported 17 species followed by Pieridae (9 species), Uttarakhand, India Papilionidae (5 species) and Lycaenidae (2 species), respectively. Among the total species, Catopsilia pomona Fabricius was the most abundant species and constituted 13.71% of the total individuals followed by Eurema hecabe Linnaeus, Pieris canidia Sparrman and Aglais cashmerensis Kollar, respectively. Contrarily, Graphium eurous Leech was the least abundant species constituted 0.32% of the total individuals followed by Neptis zaida Doubleday and Papilio machaon Linnaeus. Shannon diversity index (H) was highest in the orchard of Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture- Mukteshwar (3.171) followed by Khabrar (3.001) and Satbunga (2.776). Evenness was highest in Satbunga (0.84) followed by Khabrar (0.80) and CITH (0.79). Similarly, Margalef’s index was highest in CITH (4.547) followed by Khabrar (4.004) and Satbunga (3.244) respectively. Based on the number of sightings, 14 species were characterized as fairly common (FC) and accounted 42.42% of the total species, 15 species (45.45%) were characterized as common (C) and 4 species (12.12%) were uncommon (UC). During the present study, site having greater fruit trees (varieties) supported maximum species composition, richness and abundance of butterflies. Keywords: Abundance, butterflies, diversity, family, species 1. Introduction [17] Butterflies are cosmopolitan and accounts more than 17000 species all over the world . The [33] Indian subcontinent hosts about 1504 species of butterflies , of which 323 species of butterflies from Uttarakhand are known [17]. Today several species of butterflies are regarded as indicator species by conservation biologist to identify habitats that are critical and needs to be protected. They are also monitored to indicate climatic change and environmental degradation as well, hence like other animals butterflies are now studied as living ecological [15] component . Beside this, butterflies play an important role in ecosystem as plant pollinator and in food chain as herbivores [34]. They are highly sensitive to environmental alterations so much that they have been considered as excellent bioindicators of climate [5, 6, 16, 25, 37, 38] and can be used as surrogate to assess the conservation threat of the biodiversity [28] and the [35] abundance of butterflies usually indicate healthier ecosystem . The diversity and abundance of butterfly species is associated with the availability of food plants in the surrounding habitat [20], consequently the lack of butterfly diversity is not entirely due to the climate but is more directly a result of low floral diversity leading to support greater butterfly diversity [11]. The change in the distribution and diversity of butterflies may reflect due to change in land use that [1] leads landscape changes and also acts as umbrella species (species whose protection serves [4, 7] Correspondence to protect many co-occurring species) for management and protection planning . Butterflies Manoj Kumar Arya are habitat specific and their diversity is restricted to different seasons [19, 23]. Different workers Insect Biodiversity Laboratory, have documented the study of butterflies in different parts of Nainital district [2, 3, 9, 14, 22, 26, 29, Department of Zoology 36]. Thus the present study aimed to explore the species composition, distribution and status of D.S.B. Campus, Kumaun University, Nainital, butterflies in the temperate fruit trees orchards of Nainital, Kumaun Himalaya, Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand, India ~ 2946 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2. Materials and Methods consists chiefly of potato fields and is bounded by fruit 2.1 Study area orchards on terraces cut into hilly sides surrounded by The present study was conducted in three temperate fruit tree coniferous forests. The pattern of seasons is similar to that in orchards located in Nainital district of Uttarakhand state from other parts of northern India, with distinct summer, rainy and July 2016 to June 2017. The selected study sites are rich in winter seasons. The three study sites were selected for the scenic beauty, with magnificent views of the Indian present study along with their characteristic attributes have Himalayas including India’s second highest peak, Nanda been given in Table 1. Devi. Because of the hilly topography, agriculture in the area Table 1: Study sites and their characteristic features. Site Dominant fruit trees & their varieties Site-1 (Satbunga) Malus domestica Altitude: 2177 m (Red Delicious Buhra- DK) Location: 29026.572´N Pyrus communis (Red Starkrimson) 79036.482´E Malus domestica (Ambri Kashmiri; Golden Delicious; CITH Lodh Apple 1; Red Delicious; Red Spur; Site-2(CITH- Mukteshwar) Chaubatia Princess; Oregon Spur Red Delicious) Altitude: 2235 m Prunus persica Location: 29027.437´N (Reliance; Red June; Golden Monarch; Florida king and Florida Sun) 79039.258´E Actinidia deliciosa (Allison; Hayward and Tomury) Prunus sp. (Methley; Ramgarh Manard and Satsuma Plum) Site-3 (Khabrar) Malus domestics Altitude: 2310 m (Red Delicious; Golden Delicious; Prima; Ambri Kashmiri; Chaubatia Anupam; Red Spur Location: 29026.382´N and Red Delicious Buhra) 79035.947´E Pyrus communis (Yog and Red Starkrimson) 2.2 Methodology Where, pi = fraction of entire population made up of species i. 2.2.1 Sampling and identification of butterflies: S = total number of species encountered Three fruit blocks (1 acre each measured by GPS, Garmin i = proportion of species etrex 10) located at Satbunga, Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH) Mukteshwar and Khabrar of Ramgarh (ii). Evenness index block were selected. The fruit blocks were selected on the It was calculated as per Hill [12], i.e, E = H/ ln S basis of presence of dominant fruit trees (varieties) shown in Where, S = total number of species, H = Index of species Table 1. One permanent transect-line was set up at each site and the observations were taken out regularly on monthly (iii). Margalef’s Index basis between 9:00 am to 2:00 pm when the butterflies were This index was used as a simple measure of species richness most active. The insects were collected using sweep sampling Margalef [21], method [8]. The collected insects were kept for short time into Margalef’s Index = (S-1)/ ln N bottles containing Chloroform soaked cotton and identified Where, S = total number of species with the help of different field guides [10, 15, 17] and then N = total number of individuals in sample released to protect the biodiversity loss. The unidentified ln = natural logarithm butterflies were taken to the laboratory for further studies. The specimens were stretched, pinned and oven dried at 600C for 3. Results and Discussion 72 hours and finally set into wooden boxes and labeled. 3.1 Species composition, distribution and status of butterflies: 2.2.2 Species composition and characterization of status of The present study documented the total of 1247 individuals butterflies belonging to 33 species of butterflies, 27 genera and four To determine the composition and distribution of identified families (Table 2). In terms of total number of species and butterflies, species were arranged according to their families genera, Nymphalidae was the most dominant family and an inventory was prepared. The status of butterflies were supported 17 species and 15 genera followed by Pieridae (9 characterized into three groups based on the number of species and 7 genera), Papilionidae (5 species and 3 genera) sightings in the study area namely fairly common (FC= more and Lycaenidae (2 species and 2 genera), respectively. than 30 sightings); common (C= 15-30 sightings); uncommon Percent contribution of number of species of different families (UC= less than 15 sightings), respectively. of butterflies recorded from the study area during the entire study period has been shown in Figure 1. Among the total 2.3 Analyzing diversity number of species of butterflies recorded, Catopsilia pomona (i). Shannon- Wiener diversity Index Fabricius was the most abundant species and constituted The species diversity will be calculated based on Shannon 13.71% of the total individuals followed by, Eurema hecabe Wiener Index(H) [27]: Linnaeus (9.86%), Pieris canidia Sparrman (8.25%) and Aglais cashmerensis Kollar (5.21%). On the other hand, Graphium eurous Leech was the least abundant species which constituted 0.32% of the total individuals followed