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CHAPTER 3.1 LOCAL SPECIES DIVERSITY

(see above): Macroglossinae (and to a lesser degree Sphinginae) are species-rich from the lowland up to the lower montane region, while Smerinthinae are relatively species-poor in the lowland and exhibit a strong rise in recorded species with increasing altitude and reach a peak in the lower montane forest. Both groups show a sharp decline in species richness above 1600 metres altitude. Data in this study (not shown) confirm the reported patterns (Schulze 2000) for the species diversity of subfamilies (as Fishers ) for Borneo, while the normalization for total catch size in figure 3.6 hides the general decline in specimens, species and diversity at high altitudes. A capital breeding life history might be connected to larval food plant choice (Schulze 2000, Miller 1997) and should lead to the use of stable resources due to limited dispersal abilities (see above with reference to habitat disturbance). Trees are a more stable resource than herbaceous plants and are more commonly taken by Smerinthinae caterpillars than by other subfamilies (Holloway 1987a). However, the dominating tree family Dipterocarpaceae in Southeast-Asian lowland forests (Whitmore 1990) is rarely taken by Sphingidae caterpillars, although it is recorded as a host plant for Cypa decolor, Ambulyx canescens and A. substrigilis (see also chapter 5.1). All three species belong to the Smerinthinae, the latter two are relatively common in lowland primary forest. It has been argued (Schulze 2000) that Smerinthinae might be more divers in montane regions because suitably stable larval resources might be more abundant there due to a change in plant family composition (e.g. Gentry 1988) and a generally lower tree diversity in montane forests (e.g. Kitayama 1992), which diminishes the time to find a specific resource. Both habitat parameters (altitude and disturbance) influence the large Sphingid subfamilies Macroglossinae and Smerinthinae differently, while Sphinginae show no reaction (or are just too few to observe trends). An idealised picture of Smerinthinae as bad dispersing, stablehabitat specialists and Macroglossinae as well dispersing, disturbed-habitat preferring taxon emerges, which will be further discussed with results from biogeography analyses (chapter 4.1).

Effects of sampling year on Sphingid assemblages: climate, habitat conversion or just noise? The year of sampling (measured in half-decades) emerged as an influential predictor of Sphingid assemblage composition. If this is not an artefact of an unknown, co-varying parameter of data source (see above), it is an unexpected yet relevant indication of long-term change of a tropical insect community. During three years of own sampling no effects of seasonality were observed in re-sampled sites (chapter 2), but species assemblages changed slightly between re-samples. Thus, seasonal effects, which were observed on insect taxa in other tropical regions (Novotny & Basset 1998, Intachat et al. 2001, Wolda 1978), can probably be excluded as reason for the observed changes for hawkmoths in Borneo (see also Barlow & Woiwod 1993, Hebert 1980, Novotny et al. 2002b). Long-term changes of Southeast-Asian hawkmoth assemblages are quantitatively documented here for the first time, but were also observed by collectors who regularly sampled at the same sites for decades (e.g. H. Barlow pers. com, H. v. Mastrigt pers. com.).