Butterfly Diversity and Preliminary Analysis of the Influence of Human Activities in the Tourist Area of the Yulong Snow Mountain, Northwest Yunnan, China

Butterflies are sensitive to environmental changes and serve as ideal indicators for monitoring terrestrial ecosystems. Yulong Snow Mountain, located in a global biodiversity hotspot, serves as both a nature reserve and a famous tourist attraction, providing a unique setting to investigate the association between human activity and biodiversity. The present study conducted surveys along five independent transects with varying elevations and disturbance intensities from June to September in two consecutive years (2024 and 2025). A total of 1570 individuals were recorded, belonging to 75 species, 51 genera, and 5 families. Species accumulation curves indicated a total sampling coverage of 96.1%. Community structure showed a certain degree of spatiotemporal variation. The lowest-disturbance forest habitat harboured the highest diversity. In contrast, the agricultural (Xiaheishui) habitat showed the highest dominance index, with Celastrina oreas accounting for 69.65% of individuals. Genus and species richness declined progressively during our survey months, while abundance peaked in July. The differences in butterfly communities across the five transects suggest that anthropogenic activities may affect species assemblages. This study provides preliminary evidence of the association between human activities and butterfly diversity in the tourist area of Yulong Snow Mountain, providing a scientific basis for future conservation and tourism development in this montane protected area.