On the Butterfly Diversity of Different Habitat Types in Three Gorge Reservoir

The faunal composition of butterflies in five different habitat types in the Three Gorges Reservoir was surveyed from 1998 to 2003. A total of 380 species belonging to 157 genera and 12 families were recorded, among which, Nymphalidae is the fittest one in the environment according to the highest number of specie, genera and families. Acraeidae, Libytheidae and Parnassiidae are the unusual rare and key species of biodiversity conservation. Farmlands and shrubs had small fluctuation of diversity indices between 6 years, while grasslands had big one, and they were 0.584 5, 0.474 0 and 0.329 8 respectively. Shrubs are the most suitable vegetations for butterfly in TGR. The investigation shows that butterfly community is closely related to habitat types, and the similarity of different butterfly communities increased with the similarity of vegetation and spatial structure between different habitat types. The shrub is important habitat of biodiversity and hence protection of these habitats is important for biodiversity conservation.