Variation of butterfly diversity in different ages palm oil plantationsin Kampar, Riau

Abstract

Santosa Y, Purnamasari I. 2017. Variation of butterfly diversity in different ages palm oil plantationsin Kampar, Riau. Pros Sem Nas Masy Biodiv Indon 3: 278-285. The development of palm oil plantations in Indonesia has been alleged of decreasing the biodiversity.Therefore it is necessary to study on variation in species diversity of butterflies at various ages palm oil. Butterfly is one of the pollinators animal that has an important role in the ecosystem in which changes in biodiversity and population density can be used as an indicator of environmental quality. This study was conducted in March-April 2016 at seven different age palm oil in four Palm oil Plantation Estates in Kampar, Riau by using time search method for 3 hours starting at 8: 00 a.m. to 11: 00 a.m. with 3 repetitions. The results showed that there were 42 species of 181 individuals divided into five families, namely Papilionidae (5 species), Nymphalidae (27 species), Pieridae (6 species), Lycaenidae (2 species), and Hesperidae (1 species). Family Nymphalidae was found at all palm oil stand age whereas Hesperidae family was found in one age of the palm oil. The highest number of species was found in 21-years-age palm oil (26 species), while the lowest number of species was found in 2-years-age (7 species) and 19-years-age palm oil (7 species). Thus, the age difference of the palm oil did not affect the species variation and the number of individual of the butterflies found.