Diel Versus Seasonal Butterfly Community Partitioning in a Hyperdiverse Tropical Rainforest

Ecological theory suggests that interspecific interactions and environmental heterogeneity promote temporal niche partitioning, whereby species segregate their activity along diel and seasonal axes. For ectotherms, temperature is a critical niche dimension because heat availability regulates activity and phenology. Here, we used data from a hyperdiverse rainforest in the Ecuadorian Amazon to compare community dynamics across two temporal scales and to test their relationship with temperature fluctuations. Butterflies were periodically sampled using Pollard walks in a permanent plot over eight field campaigns spanning two years. We compared environmental temperature fluctuations, diversity metrics, and niche-overlap estimates of community assemblages at both diel and seasonal scales. We recorded 1003 individuals representing 222 species. Temperature differences among seasons were comparable to those observed across times of day. Consistently, our analyses revealed distinct community assemblages across both diel and seasonal scales. Furthermore, butterfly activity tended to increase during warmer hours and in warmer seasons, yet overlap in activity within these timeframes was low at both the species and subfamily levels. These results highlight the contribution of both abiotic drivers and biotic interactions in structuring butterfly temporal abundance. More broadly, our study underscores the importance of explicitly considering temporal dimensions when examining tropical biodiversity.