Betadiversity of larval lepidoptera across eight lowland rainforest sites in Papua New Guinea

Study Extent

The study covered eight sites within a 500 X 150KM lowland area with continuous rainforest in the basin of the Sepik and Ramu rivers. The eight primary sites were the villages of Utai, Yapsiei, Niksek, Elem, Wamangu, Wanang, Morox and Ohu. Caterpillars were sampled during a 3 month survey staged at each study site from December 2001 to October 2005.

Sampling

Four large genera—Ficus (Moraceae), Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae), Psychotria (Rubiaceae) and Syzygium (Myrtaceae)—were the focus of the sampling effort. Caterpillars were sampled on 11–12 plant species from the four focal genera at each of eight study sites, surveying 1,500m2 of foliage per plant species. Sampling was carried out by manual search and hand collection, with estimates taken of leaf area sampled per tree.

Method steps

1. Full details can be found- Novotny, Vojtech, et al. "Low beta diversity of herbivorous insects in tropical forests." Nature 448.7154 (2007): 692-695.

This dataset comprises larval Lepidoptera.

1. Lepidoptera
   rank: order

The study included eight sites within a 500 X 150KM lowland area with continuous rainforest in the basin of the Sepik and Ramu rivers. The eight sites were the villages of Utai, Yapsiei, Niksek, Elem, Wamangu, Wanang, Morox and Ohu.