The Responses of Some Pansy Butterfly Species (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Junonia) on Warmer Temperature

Abstract

Global warming is caused of warmer climate in Thailand which may affect to the survivorship of living organisms, particularly cold-blooded animals. Global warming effects may cause of biodiversity loss and ecosystem malfunction. This study was focused on the responses of some pansy butterfly species under warmer temperature i.e. Junonia almana, J. iphita and J. lemonias. In experiments, the butterflies were reared at temperature 25, 30, 35 and 40 °C according to compare survivorship, development time, weight and size of butterflies. Survivorship of three butterfly species was decreased with warmer temperature and no butterfly survived at 40 °C. The development time of all butterfly species at all temperature were different significantly (Tukey’s HSD test, p < 0.0001) and the shortest development time were at 30 °C condition. At temperature from 25 to 30 °C, response pattern of three butterfly species were not difference except J. lemonias which had increased in dry weight. J. iphita had lowest tolerance to temperature which was 30 °C. Thus, the extinction risk under warmer climate of J. iphita may higher than other species. The idiosyncratic responses to warmer temperature in congeneric species indicated that this is emergency topic to study this information of the butterflies and other animals, which increase sufficient information for management and conservation of biodiversity under warmer climate effectively.