Local habitat characteristics determine butterfly diversity and community structure in a threatened Kihansi gorge forest, Southern Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania

Ecological Processes

Table 1 Effect of various ecological variables on the butterfly diversity, abundance and species richness as estimated by GLM showing significant effect on the final best fitting models

Model type	Parameter	Mean ± SE	z value	P (z)
Butterfly diversity	Intercept	0.904 ± 0.248	3.644	0.0002***
	Canopy cover	0.009 ± 003	2.491	0.012*
	Ground cover	− 0.004 ± 0.003	− 2.271	0.203
	Tree DBH	− 0.005 ± 0.002	− 1.895	0.058
	Pseudo R²	23.503

	Parameter	Mean ± SE	t value	P (t)
Butterfly abundance	Intercept	0.241 ± 0.477	0.506	0.616
	Habitat-WG	0.798 ± 0.388	2.056	0.047*
	Habitat-WL	0.878 ± 0.282	3.124	0.003**
	Canopy cover	0.03 ± 0.007	3.69	0.0001***
	Tree density	4.697 ± 4.261	1.102	0.277
	Pseudo R²	386.33
Species richness	Intercept	0.569 ± 0.27	2.109	0.041*
	Distance to water	− 0.071 ± 0.060	− 1.181	0.244
	Canopy cover	0.016 ± 0.005	3.208	0.002**
	Pseudo R²	85.68