Taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity patterns of Saturniidae moth communities along a tropical forest recovery gradient in Ecuador

Abstract Conserving the remaining primary forests and restoring forests on former agricultural lands are two key strategies to conserve biodiversity in the tropics. Natural regrowth of forest following the abandonment of agricultural land use is one way of forest restoration and thus, it is important to understand how biodiversity shifts with ongoing recovery and whether communities become more similar over time to those in old‐growth forests. We studied patterns of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity as well as community composition of Saturniidae, as one of the most conspicuous and well‐studied families of moths. Our study covered a forest recovery gradient from active agriculture via early and advanced stages of regrowth to old‐growth rainforests in the lowland Chocó region of Ecuador. Saturniidae diversity patterns did not follow the hypothesized increase from agriculture to old‐growth forest, but instead, the highest taxonomic and functional diversity was found in early regrowth, and the highest phylogenetic diversity in active agriculture. Diversity differences along the forest recovery gradient were overall weak and occurred mainly when focusing on common and dominant species, but community composition showed a gradual turnover with the strongest differences between old‐growth forest and active agriculture. Our results show that diverse Saturniidae communities are found in naturally recovering tropical forests. But although Saturniidae have been recommended as indicator species due to their well‐documented taxonomy, our results suggest that they are not well suited as indicators of forest recovery. Nevertheless, due to their striking appearance, Saturniidae could serve as flagship species for the conservation of tropical forests.