Abundancia y diversidad de escarabajos coprofagos y mariposas diurnas en un paisaje ganadero en el departemento de Rivas, Nicaragua

Pastoral landscapes are complex mosaics of pastures, crop fields, forest fragments and other types of tree cover.In order to asses the value of these landscapes for biodiversity conservation, the diversity of dung beetles and butterflies was characterized in a pastoral landscape in Rivas, Nicaragua. In addition, the abundance, species richness, and diversity of dung beetles and butterflies were compared across different habitat types (secondary forest,riparian forest, forest fallows, live fences, pastures with high tree cover and pastures with low tree cover) to determine the relative importance for conservation of different habitats. A total of 48 parcels were surveyed (eight per habitat type), using pitfall traps to capture dung beetles and entomological nets to capture butterflies. A total of 15679 dung beetles of 33 species were collected, of which the most abundant were Copris lugubris, Onthophagus batesi and Ateuchus rodriguezi. In addition, a total of 559 butterflies of 50 species were collected, of which the most abundant were Phoebis sennae, Heliconius charitonius, Euptoieta hegesia and Eurema daira. There were no differences in abundance or species richness of dung beetles across habitats or in species richness, diversity and equitativity of butterflies. However, there were some differences among habitats in the diversity and equitativity of dung beetles, and in the abundance of butterflies.There were also important differences in the composition of species present in each habitat, with more species typical of forest habitats occurring primarily in the habitats with higher tree cover (secondary forests, riparian forest and forest fallows).