Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Theses and Dissertations by Author "Oloya Joseph"

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    RECOVERY OF FRUIT-FEEDING BUTTERFLY COMMlJNITIES IN BlJDONGO FOREST RESERVE, UGANDA
    (Gulu University, 2018) Oloya Joseph
    The effect of anthropogenic activities on the regeneration of forest structure and recovery of anin1al communities is not well known. This study assessed the recovery pattern of fruit feeding butterflies as bio-indicators of environmental disturbance, after about 72 years of selective logging and arboricide treatment in the Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda. Butterflies were sampled in four selectively logged forest habitats and one primary forest using white cylindrical traps baited with fermented smashed bananas. Sampling was conducted for five straight days within a week between 0700-1700 hours, for five Months. The study compaired the spatial and temporal variation in butterfly species richness, abundance, diversity and community composition in the five forest compartments and also datamined specialist butterfly species characterizing each of the five. A total of 3, 780 individuals, representing 85 species belonging to three families and 28 generations were recorded. There was significant difference in butterfly abundance and diversity between the five compartments and months of study. However, there were no significant differences in the total species richness among the five compartments. This study found no significant directional patterns in the species density, diversity and abundance of butterflies along the successional gradient (gradation of recovery from the youngest to the oldest logged with respect to the primary forest). Communities of all selected logged compartments differed significantly from each other and from the primary forest. The unlogged primary forest had the highest butterfly indicator species compared to the logged compartments. These results demonstrate that logged forest compartments don't yet provide suitable habitats to fully support butterfly communities like the unlogged primary compartments, highlighting the eminent need to conserve primary forests as a long term conservation strategy for butterfly species.