Butterfly similarity index
This shows the similarity between the Eastern and Northern zone at 39.81% and similarity between Eastern, Western and Northern Zone at 27.74 %. From the dendrogram all the Zones are dissimilar since their percentages fall below 50% with Western and Northern Zones being more dissimilar.
The highest relative abundance (N = 329) and species richness (55 species, 5 families) of butterflies in the (EZ) may be attributed to the presence of large undisturbed secondary forest which serves as a refuge for butterfly species. This was in consonance with work done by Tudoret al. (2004) which suggest that vegetation structure is important for butterfly assemblage as a site for mating and thermoregulation. This correlated positively with the highest abundance of tree species (175) and tree diversity (2.17292) in the EZ. This conforms to work done by Wala et al. (2012) which suggests that diverse nature of plant species in forest ecosystem attract butterflies for foraging and reproductive purposes, which could result in higher species richness and abundance.
Low species richness (S = 22) and the lowest relative abundance (N= 41) of butterflies in WZ could be attributed to the movement of dust particles towards the zone after every blast of the quarry. This is in agreement with work done by Mabogunje (2008) who suggested that, quarrying carries the potential of destroying habitats and the species they support. Dust and vibrations from heavy vehicles that transport quarry products in the NZ could possibly have caused the decline in butterfly relative abundance (N= 47) and species richness (S = 21). This support work done by Nisic (2018), who indicated that quarry operations negatively affects the environment in a variety of ways during exploration, blasting, transportation and disposal of waste rocks.