Daily G C, Ehrlich P R
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, CA 94305-5020, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Oct 15;93(21):11709-12. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.21.11709.
Surveys of butterfly and moth diversity in tropical forest fragments suggest that nocturnality confers a dispersal, and possibly a survival, advantage. The butterfly faunas of smaller fragments were depauperate; in contrast, the species richness of nocturnal moths was similar in all fragments and even in pasture. The lack of correlation between butterfly and moth species richness among fragments (r2 = 0.005) is best explained by movements of moths at night when ambient conditions in forest and pasture are most similar; butterflies face substantial daytime temperature, humidity, and solar radiation barriers. This interpretation is supported by information on birds, beetles, and bats.
对热带森林碎片中蝴蝶和蛾类多样性的调查表明，夜行性赋予了扩散优势，甚至可能是生存优势。较小碎片区域的蝴蝶种类匮乏；相比之下，夜间活动的蛾类物种丰富度在所有碎片区域甚至牧场中都相似。碎片区域中蝴蝶和蛾类物种丰富度之间缺乏相关性（r2 = 0.005），这最好的解释是蛾类在夜间活动，此时森林和牧场的环境条件最为相似；而蝴蝶则面临着白天温度、湿度和太阳辐射等巨大障碍。关于鸟类、甲虫和蝙蝠的信息也支持了这一解释。
