Species richness, abundance, distributional pattern and trait composition of butterfly assemblage change along an altitudinal gradient in the Gulmarg region of Jammu & Kashmir, India

Despite enormous diversity, abundance, and role in ecosystem processes, little is known about how butterflies differ across altitudinal gradients. For this, butterfly communities were investigated along an altitudinal gradient of 2700–3200 m a.s.l, along the Gulmarg region of Jammu & Kashmir, India. We aimed to determine how the altitudinal gradient and environmental factors affect the butterfly diversity and abundance. Our findings indicate that species richness and diversity are mainly affected by the synergism between climate and vegetation. Alpha diversity indices showed that butterfly communities were more diverse at lower elevations and declined significantly with increase in elevation. Overall, butterfly abundance and diversity is stronger at lower elevations and gradually keep dropping towards higher elevations because floristic diversity decreased on which butterflies rely for survival and propagation. A total of 2023 individuals of butterflies were recorded belonging to 40 species, represented by 27 genera and 05 families. Six survey sites (S I- S VI) were assessed for butterfly diversity from 2018 to 2020 in the Gulmarg region of Jammu & Kashmir. Across the survey, Nymphalidae was the most dominant family represented by 16 genera and 23 species, while Papilionidae and Hesperiidae were least dominant represented by 01 genera and 01 species each. Among the six collection sites selected, Site I was most dominant, represented by 16 genera and 21 species, while Site VI was least dominant, represented by 04 genera and 04 species.