LTREB: Spatial and Temporal Pattern in Butterfly Faunas: Long-term Studies on a Northern California Transect

从海平面到内华达山脉的顶峰，沿着加利福尼亚北部的一个环境梯度，获得了21年来蝴蝶种群组成和季节性的记录。目前已监测到约175个物种。这组数据可能涉及许多生态问题，包括种间关联的性质和稳定性、生物季节性的决定因素、物种对天气波动的敏感性以及整个动物群对方向性气候变化作出反应的潜力。数据是二进制（存在-不存在）形式，需要开发、测试和改进从数据中提取此类信息的令人满意的统计方法。一种名为“关联分析”的方法的最新进展令人鼓舞。本项目将维持既定的抽样程序。这类研究项目除了对基础生态学具有重要意义外，对更好地管理和保护脆弱物种也具有重要意义。此外，这些研究可能对农业有害生物管理方法产生影响，因为许多蝴蝶和飞蛾可以达到流行病的密度。

A 21-year record of butterfly faunal composition and seasonality has been obtained along an environmental gradient across northern California, from sea level over the crest of the Sierra Nevada. Some 175 species have been monitored. This data set potentially bears on many ecological questions, including the nature and stability of interspecific association, the determinants of biological seasonality, the sensitivity of species to fluctuations in weather and the potential of entire faunas to respond to directional climatic change. The data are in binary (presence- absence) form, and satisfactory statistical methods for extracting such information from them need to be developed, tested and refined. Recent advances in a method called "conjunction analysis" are encouraging. This project will maintain the established sampling program. %%% Research projects of this type are, in addition to being important to basic ecology, of significance to the better management and conservation of vulnerable species. Additionally, such studies may bear on pest management approaches for agriculture since many butterflies and moths can reach epidemic densities.