Species richness and abundance among macromoths: A comparison of taxonomic, temporal and spatial patterns in Oregon and South Korea

The present study aims to establish a long-term intercontinental collaboration based on a sampling protocol using standardized repeated measures at permanent sites to document macromoth species richness and abundance through time and across the landscape.We pooled the data from two continental regions providing a total of 12 trap sites: Mt. Jirisan National Park in South Korea (2005–2007) and HJ Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon, USA. (2004–2006). A synthesis of our data indicated that: (i) noctuids (43–52%) and geometrids (33–39%) dominated the
measures of species richness; (ii) using our sampling protocols more than three years would be needed to obtain a value of 90% of empirical species richness relative to Chao-1 estimated species richness; (iii) temperature alone could not explain the peak pattern in moth abundance and species richness; (iv) the highest/ lowest proportion of species richness and abundance were present in similar elevation and forest sites. These observations established a foundation for developing a network-oriented database for assessing biotic impact of environmental and contributed to identifying species at high risk to environmental change based on empirical measures of temporal and spatial breadth.

Key words: biodiversity, database, environmental change, Lepidoptera, long-term monitoring.