Detrimental effects of low atmospheric humidity and forest fire on a community of western Himalayan butterflies

Article Sidebar

PDF/A HTML
Published: Apr 26, 2011
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2307.1694-701

Main Article Content

P. Smetacek

Abstract

Compared to previous years, the period from October 2008 to March 2009 showed marked reductions in species number and population size in the butterfly community of the Maheshkhan Reserve Forest, Nainital District, Uttarakhand. Desiccation of pupae due to abnormally low atmospheric humidity after the failure of seasonal rains appears to have been a major cause of this reduction. The drop in humidity also appears to be linked to the unusual spread of fires affecting broadleaf forests, one of which in May 2009 wiped out the remaining Maheshkhan butterfly community.

Article Details

Issue
Vol 3, No 4 (2011)
Section
Communications

Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT.  This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership.  Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.

Author Biography

P. Smetacek

Peter Smetacek runs the Butterfly Research Centre in Bhimtal, Uttarakhand. He has worked on Lepidoptera for more than 30 years and has published 50 scientific papers. He is the first Indian to discover and describe a butterfly taxon, Neptis miah varshneyi. He has described a dozen moths and butterflies new to science.

Most read articles by the same author(s)