Description
Larval lepidoptera were sampled by hand from four species of Ficus in a montane study area, including one species restricted to montane forest (Ficus iodotricha) and three widespread species (Ficus copiosa, F. dammaropsis and F. wassa). The dataset was used in a wider study which aimed to understand beta-diversity between tropical lowlands and highlands and attempted to separate the effects of between-site (1) turnover of herbivore species on particular host plants, (2) changes in host use by herbivores, and (3) turnover of plant species on changes in herbivore assemblages.
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 12,752 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
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How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Butterill P, Redmond C (2023). Reared caterpillars (Lepidoptera) from lower montane rainforest in Chimbu, Papua New Guinea. Version 1.1. New Guinea Binatang Research Centre. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.sprep.org/resource?r=larval_lepidoptera_sampled_from_lower_montane_forest_in_papua_new_guinea&v=1.1
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is New Guinea Binatang Research Centre. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: ea992893-0e76-47be-b387-fb83b038c11b. New Guinea Binatang Research Centre publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Participant Node Managers Committee.
Keywords
Occurrence; Specimen
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Geographic Coverage
The Kundiawa area, Chimbu Province contains lower montane forest and has a lower montane humid climate with a mild dry season from June to August.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-6.07, 144.928], North East [-5.952, 145.074] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
This dataset comprises larval Lepidoptera
| Order | Lepidoptera (Caterpillar) |
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Project Data
Aim- This analysis of caterpillar (Lepidoptera) beta-diversity between tropical lowlands and highlands attempts to separate the effects of between-site (1) turnover of herbivore species on particular host plants, (2) changes in host use by herbivores, and (3) turnover of plant species on changes in herbivore assemblages. Location- Two rain forest areas 130 km and 1700 altitudinal metres apart were studied in Papua New Guinea: one in the lowlands (100 m a.s.l.) on the northern coast of the island and one in the central New Guinean cordillera at 1800 m a.s.l. Methods The analysis is based on caterpillar feeding records obtained by quantitative sampling and rearing of caterpillars from four Ficus species studied in the mountains and 21 Ficus species and 62 plant species from other genera and families studied in the lowlands, including three Ficus species studied in both areas. Results- Only 17% of species feeding on Ficus in the highlands also occurred in the lowlands. These species represented 1–46% of individuals in caterpillar assemblages on particular Ficus hosts. Widespread species included both Ficus specialists and generalists feeding on numerous plant families. Some of the Ficus specialists changed their preferred host species with altitude. High species turnover was not explained by changes in the species composition of host plants with altitude as lowland and montane assemblages feeding on the same Ficus species showed high turnover. Despite the rarity of widespread caterpillars, the lowland and montane Ficus assemblages were remarkably similar in their dominance structure, species richness, host specificity, generic composition and familial composition. Main conclusions- Ficus-feeding Lepidoptera assemblages between tropical lowlands and highlands are characterized by substantial species turnover not explained by altitudinal changes in the composition of the vegetation. Further, species-rich plant genera can support caterpillar assemblages with relatively low beta-diversity compared with species-poor genera as caterpillars can switch their host preferences from one congeneric host species to another along an altitudinal gradient. Closely related plant species can thus represent a broad, continuously distributed resource along such gradients.
| Title | An altitudinal comparison of caterpillar (Lepidoptera) assemblages on Ficus trees in Papua New Guinea. |
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| Identifier | BID-PA2020-007-INS |
| Funding | The project was funded by US National Science Foundation (DEB-94-07297, 96-28840, 97-07928 and 02-11591), Czech Academy of Sciences (A6007106, Z 5007907), Czech Ministry of Education (ME 646, K6005114), Czech Grant Agency (206/03/ H034, 206/04/0725) and the National Geographic Society (7659-04). |
| Study Area Description | This montane study area was situated near Kundiawa town, Chimbu Province. Fieldwork was concentrated in primary and secondary forests and the partially deforested landscape around Mu Villag .The Kundiawa area has a lower montane humid climate with a mild dry season from June to August (rainfall seasonality index 2.6, average annual rainfall 2249 mm). |
| Design Description | Two rain forest areas 130 km and 1700 altitudinal metres apart were studied in Papua New Guinea: one in the lowlands (100 m a.s.l.) on the northern coast of the island and one in the central New Guinean cordillera at 1800 m a.s.l. Twenty-one locally common species of Ficus, including 19 forest and two seacoast species, were selected for the study of their caterpillar assemblages in the lowland study area. Four species were studied in the montane study area, including one species restricted to montane forest (F. iodotricha) and three widespread species (Ficus copiosa, F. dammaropsis and F. wassa) also studied in the lowlands. All externally feeding caterpillars, including leaf rollers and leaf tiers, were collected by hand from the foliage of target trees in both secondary and primary forests. At each sampling occasion, a collector spent 1 day walking throughout the study area and searching the foliage of the target tree species for caterpillars. The sampling included accessible branches from the forest canopy and understorey, which could be climbed or reached from the ground, and included most of the habitat for folivorous herbivores on the study trees. The approximate area of the foliage sampled was estimated visually and recorded. The analysis is based on caterpillar feeding records obtained by quantitative sampling and rearing of caterpillars from four Ficus species studied in the mountains and 21 Ficus species and 62 plant species from other genera and families studied in the lowlands, including three Ficus species studied in both areas. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
All externally feeding caterpillars, including leaf rollers and leaf tiers, were collected by hand from the foliage of target trees in both secondary and primary forests. At each sampling occasion, a collector spent 1 day walking throughout the study area and searching the foliage of the target tree species for caterpillars. The sampling included accessible branches from the forest canopy and understorey, which could be climbed or reached from the ground, and included most of the habitat for folivorous herbivores on the study trees. The approximate area of the foliage sampled was estimated visually and recorded.
| Study Extent | Four Ficus species sampled in the montane study area from June 2001 to July 2002. Sampling effort varied from 500 m2 (F. wassa and F. dammaropsis) to 700 m2 (F. iodotricha) and 1300 m2 (F. copiosa) of foliage per species. The sampling effort was standardized to 500 m2 for all species by random removal of individual samples for comparative analyses. Note- this study also used data from separate lowland sampling. Specifically, Twenty-one Ficus species including 19 forest and two seacoast species were sampled in the lowland study for 1 year between 1994 and 2000 with sampling effort 1500 m2 of foliage per species. Two 1-year samples were obtained for Ficus wassa, one from 1994 to 1995 with sampling effort of 1500 m2 of foliage and another from 1999 to 2000 with sampling effort 10,500 m2 of foliage. |
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Method step description:
- Full details can be found- Novotny, Vojtech, et al. "An altitudinal comparison of caterpillar (Lepidoptera) assemblages on Ficus trees in Papua New Guinea." Journal of Biogeography 32.8 (2005): 1303-1314.
Bibliographic Citations
- Novotny, V., Miller, S.E., Basset, Y., Cizek, L., Darrow, K., Kaupa, B., Kua, J. and Weiblen, G.D. (2005), An altitudinal comparison of caterpillar (Lepidoptera) assemblages on Ficus trees in Papua New Guinea. Journal of Biogeography, 32: 1303-1314. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01225.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01225.x