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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Land/Water Interfaces
BUTTERFLIES AS BIOINDICATORS OF RIPARIAN HABITAT QUALITY IN THE SEMI-ARID WESTERN UNITED STATES.
S.M. Nelson. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Technical Service Center, Denver, CO 80225
Butterfly assemblages may be useful for assessment of riparian systems, especially in arid regions where riparian vegetation is very different from adjacent upland areas. Collection of butterflies is practical, natural histories are relatively well known, and taxa richness is high in most areas. Sensitivity of butterfly species to environmental perturbations varies from sensitive to resilient, with various species sensitive to vegetation changes, fragmentation of habitat, and pesticides. Kremen et al. (1993) have suggested that terrestrial arthropods may be especially appropriate for monitoring activities because of their rapid response to the environment and their importance, in many cases, as pollinators. Because of their response to environmental perturbation, butterfly assemblages can serve to integrate riparian vegetation, fragmentation, and ecological processes and provide a responsive measure of biodiversity (i.e., composition, structure, and function).
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