Biodiversity of butterflies in endosulfan-affected areas of Rewa (M.P.)

Abstract

Butterflies are considered bioindicators of a healthy and diversified ecosystem. Endosulfan was sprayed indiscriminately on large plantations in the Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, causing serious threat to the ecosystem. In this study, we surveyed butterflies for their abundance and diversity in three areas differentially affected by endosulfan, i.e., Govindgarh-highly affected area, Jayanti Kunj-moderately affected area, Kothi Compound-unaffected area, conducted between the end of monsoon season and the beginning of the winter season, which lasts approximately 100 days. Seven variables viz., butterfly abundance (N), species richness (S), Simpson’s reciprocal index (D), the Shannon–Wiener index (H′), the exponential of the Shannon–Wiener index (expH′), Pielou’s evenness (J) and species evenness (D/S), related to species diversity were estimated, followed by the one-way ANOVA (F = 25.01, p