Department of Biological Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, Njala University, Sierra Leone.
J Insect Sci. 2008;8:1-17. doi: 10.1673/031.008.6401.
The habitat preferences of the butterfly fauna were studied in the Bumbuna Forest Reserve in northern Sierra Leone. The intact forest reserve and a secondary forest regrowth, disturbed as a result of slash-and-burn agriculture, were compared to savanna habitats. Of the 290 specimens collected, 195 butterfly species were included, of which significant proportion were Nymphalidae. Of the 147 forest species, 111 (75.5%) showed preferences for the forest habitats, while 70 (47.6%) and 34 (23.1%) preferred disturbed and savannah habitats, respectively. Numerically, a comparable proportion of savannah species were recorded in the 18 disturbed (73.9%) and 16 savannah habitats (63.2%). Accumulated species richness and diversity indices were lower in the disturbed habitats compared to the forest reserve, but lowest in the savanna habitats. However, a large proportion of forest species, especially those with either a more restricted geographic range or species for which no information on geographic distribution was available, were exclusively captured in the forest patches. The survey indicated the presence of a rich butterfly fauna, which should be systematically collected for further research and study in order to build a good taxonomic database for Sierra Leone.
在塞拉利昂北部的邦布纳森林保护区研究了蝴蝶区系的生境偏好。将完整的森林保护区和因刀耕火种农业而受到干扰的次生林再生林与热带稀树草原生境进行了比较。在所采集的 290 个标本中，包括了 195 种蝴蝶，其中相当一部分是蛱蝶科。在 147 种森林物种中，有 111 种（75.5%）表现出对森林生境的偏好，而 70 种（47.6%）和 34 种（23.1%）分别偏好受干扰和热带稀树草原生境。从数量上看，在 18 个受干扰（73.9%）和 16 个热带稀树草原生境（63.2%）中，也记录到了可比比例的热带稀树草原物种。与森林保护区相比，受干扰的生境中物种丰富度和多样性指数较低，但在热带稀树草原生境中最低。然而，很大一部分森林物种，特别是那些地理分布范围较窄或没有地理分布信息的物种，仅在森林斑块中被捕获。该调查表明，塞拉利昂存在丰富的蝴蝶区系，应系统地收集这些蝴蝶，以便为进一步的研究和研究建立一个良好的塞拉利昂分类数据库。
