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Schirmer SC, Gawryszewski FM, Cardoso MZ, Pessoa DMA. Melanism and color saturation of butterfly assemblages: A comparison between a tropical rainforest and a xeric white forest. Front Ecol Evol 2023. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.932755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The study of butterfly coloration has helped to identify the ecological pressures involved in the evolution of animal coloration. However, almost all studies that addressed this issue have focused on species that inhabit more temperate environments, leaving the species and ecological factors of tropical regions mostly understudied. Here, our purpose was to evaluate whether butterfly assemblages from two distinct Neotropical biomes (i.e., tropical rainforest and xeric white forest) differ regarding their melanism and/or color saturation. Our hypotheses were that (1) tropical rainforest butterflies should be more melanic and color saturated, and that (2) butterflies from more open/arid tropical environments should be more melanic on their dorsal wing surfaces than on their ventral wings. Therefore, we quantified melanism and color saturation from dorsal and ventral surfaces of 121 different butterfly species. Comparisons show that rainforest butterflies, when contrasted to white forest butterflies, have more melanic dorsal wing surfaces, which might be seen as a form of protection against parasites. Our data also show that rainforest butterflies, but not white forest species, have darker dorsal wing surfaces, when compared to their own ventral surfaces, a trend that was also found for species inhabiting both biomes, which might be associated to thermoregulatory advantages. At last, our results also point that butterflies' dorsal wing sides present a higher variance between species (regardless of Biome), when compared to their own ventral wing side, an indication that some ecological factor (e.g., predation avoidance) might be exerting a strong homogenizing force on ventral wing coloration.
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de Alcantara Viana JV, Lourenço Garcia de Brito V, de Melo C. Colour matching by arthropods in burned and unburned backgrounds in a Neotropical savanna. AUSTRAL ECOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.13225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- João Vitor de Alcantara Viana
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação de Recursos Naturais, Laboratório de Ornitologia e Bioacústica Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU) Uberlândia Brazil
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia, Laboratório de Interações Multitróficas e Biodiversidade, Instituto de Biologia Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) Campinas
- Laboratório de Interações Multitróficas e Biodiversidade Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia Universidade Estadual de Campinas CP 6109, CEP 13083-970 Campinas São Paulo Brazil
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- Instituto de Biologia Universidade Federal de Uberlândia Uberlândia Brazil
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