PROTOCOLO DE AMOSTRAGEM DE BORBOLETAS FRUGÍVORAS NO SISTEMA RAPELD

Resumen

Butterflies are abundant animals in tropical forests and are strongly associated with their habitats. The guild of frugivorous butterflies meets its nutritional needs by feeding on rotting fruits, which makes them easy to capture using traps and attractive baits. Active sampling with entomological nets (sweep nets) is also frequently used and can complement the sampling of frugivorous butterflies that rarely fall into traps, provided that a standardized sampling effort is applied. This protocol proposes the use of two standardized sampling methods for frugivorous butterflies within the RAPELD system: passive sampling with traps and attractive baits, and active sampling with the aid of entomological nets. We present here a protocol adapted to and compatible with the initiative of the National Biodiversity Monitoring Program – Monitora Program/ICMBio. The implementation of this protocol allows for standardized data collection of frugivorous butterflies, which can be integrated with other types of biological and environmental data collected in the RAPELD system (e.g., birds, floristic composition, vegetation structure). In this way, the protocol makes it possible to measure not only changes in populations and communities over time, but also to assess how these variations are associated with environmental changes and with other biological groups associated with butterflies.