Occurrence data of southern butterflies in South Korea

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Abstract

1. Introduction

Butterflies are widely considered as the indicator of the environmental change, habitat fragmentation, agriculture activities, air pollution, and climate change (Samways, 2005; Nakamura, 2011). They are highly sensitive to climatic variables (Manzoor et al., 2013). The increased temperature directly or indirectly effects on ovipositional sites, egg laying rate, larval development, and survival rate of the butterfly (Davies et al., 2006). Similarly, precipitation influences larval development and survival by controlling phenology of the host plant (Rodriguez et al., 1994). Therefore, climatic variables determine the habitat expansion, and range shift of the butterfly. Many studies revealed that contemporary and anticipated effects of climate change on butterflies, includes altitudinal and latitudinal range shift across the globe (Parmesan et al., 1999; Gonzalez-Megias et al., 2008; Kwon et al., 2010). However, very few studies have found to describe the distribution and range shift of butterflies under the climate change in South Korea (Kwon et al., 2010, 2014).

The southern butterflies are native to the southern regions of the South Korea, approximately below 36.5° latitudes. However, their presence have recorded in central and northern regions too (Kim et al., 2012). The southern butterflies such as Graphium sarpedon, Papilio memnon, Catopsilia pomona and Eurema laeta contributes 16.42% of the total butterflies found in the South Korea (Kim et al., 2012). The Southern region of the South Korea is relatively warm and humid compared to the northern and central regions. Therefore, the southern butterflies are well adapted to warm and humid climatic environment.

In this study, we presented the species occurrence data of southern butterflies in different locations of South Korea. These data will be a part of inputs on the MOTIVE ecosystem model (officially not announced), an integrated model for climate change impact and vulnerability assessment. The model has been developing to understand the impact of climate change on various ecological phenomena including the habitat suitability change of sensitive, native, and invasive species under the financial support of the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) since 2014.

2. Project description

Title: Integrated model for climate change and vulnerability assessment

This is a seven years project started in 2014 for studying climate change impact and vulnerability assessment of subalpine species, northern species, southern species, native species, sensitive species, and invasive species present in South Korea via developing ecological model. The project is supported by the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI) through the “Climate Change Response Technology Project”, funded by Ministry of Environment, South Korea.

3. Methods

The Ministry of Environment, South Korea has carried out the National Ecosystem Survey (NES) for the mainland of South Korea since 1986. The third NES data (2006-2013) for butterflies collected from 2006 to 2013 were used in this study (National Institute of Environmental Research, 2007). These data were produced under the process of data standards and quality control of EcoBank, ecological information portal system in NIE, Korea.

4. Results and Discussion

Altogether, 456 occurrence point data of nine southern butterflies Eurema laeta, Zizina otis, Papilio protenor, Dichorragia nesimachus, Lampides boeticus, Taraka hamada, Parantica sita, Graphium sarpedon, and Choaspes benjaminii corresponding to five families have presented in this study (Table 1). These butterflies were recorded mainly inside the forest, edge line of the forest, grassland, riverbanks, agriculture land, and swampy meadows. Kim et al. (2011) reported similar habitats of southern butterflies.

Table 1.

Selected southern butterfly species in South Korea

The southern butterflies were abundant in both mainland and islands of the southern region of South Korea particularly Jeju-do, Jeollanam-do, Jeollabuk-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, Busan, Ulsan, and Daegu. However, some southern butterflies such as Eurema laeta, Papilio protenor, Parantica sita, and Choaspes benjaminii were recorded in northern region of South Korea including Seoul, Gangwon-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do (Ullong Island). This indicates that southern butterflies could have range shift due to the various environmental effects such as climate change, land use or land cover change, and anthropogenic activities.

Although, recent conservation status of southern butterflies listed in this study are not evaluated currently, four species namely Papilio protenor, Lampides boeticus, Taraka hamada and Parantica sita were listed as the rare species and the Graphium sarpedon is listed as the protection required species in South Korea (Choi and Kim, 2012). Therefore, these species presence data could be reference for assessment of their conservation status. The data presented in this study, will be important resource to the researcher and conservation agencies for understanding the ecology, distribution, and impact of climate change on southern butterfly and developing conservation strategies of southern butterfly, respectively.

Fig. 1.

Occurrence points of 9 southern butterfly species; (a) C. Benjaminii, (b) Z. Otis, (c) L. Boeticus, (d) T. hamada, (e) D. nesimachus, (f) P. sita, (g) P. protenor, (h) G. sarpedon, and (i) E. laeta.

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