Habitat associations of Lepidoptera in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas

Lepidoptera were surveyed using blacklight traps during the growing seasons of 2004 and 2005 in two counties that differed in land use patterns in the Ozark Mountains, Arkansas. Marion County is a fragmented landscape; habitats surveyed were upland forest, riparian forest, edge, and field. Crawford County lies in the Ozark National Forest; habitats surveyed were saw, pole, and sapling size classes of timber. Moths ≥20 mm in wingspan were identified and enumerated. A total of 8326 moths of ≥324 species and 22 families were identified and tabulated. The total number of species and family-level composition varied little between landscapes, but the relative occurrence of species varied between landscapes and across habitats. Dominance of common species varied between landscapes with fewer species forming the bulk of the assemblage in the fragmented landscape. Endemism of certain moths in riparian forest suggests this habitat supports many species. In contrast, few species were recorded in field habitats. These data demonstrate the importance of forest habitats for many moth species in the Ozark Mountains. Our study forms a foundation for understanding species richness patterns of Lepidoptera in the hardwood forests of central North America.