Butterfly communities in miombo woodland: biodiversity declines with increaing woodland utilisation

Deforestation and degradation is threatening forests and woodlands globally. The deciduous miombo woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa are no exception, yet little is known about the flora and fauna they contain and the implications of their loss. Butterflies are recognised as indicators of environmental change; however the responses of butterflies in miombo woodlands have received little attention. This paper describes butterfly assemblages and their response to woodland utilisation in an understudied area of miombo woodland in south-west Tanzania. This is an area representative of miombo woodlands throughout sub-Saharan Africa, where woodland is utilised by local communities for a range of products, and is being rapidly converted to agriculture. Baited canopy traps and sweep nets were used to sample frugivorous and nectarivorous butterfly communities at different vertical stratifications in nine different study sites. 104 species were recorded, of which 16 are miombo specialists that have been recorded in Tanzania to the west of the country only. Indicator species were identified for three different levels of utilisation, with species from the sub-family Satyrinae indicating moderate utilisation. Generalised linear mixed effects models showed that butterfly species richness, diversity and abundance all decreased in response to increasing agriculture and anthropogenic utilisation. The loss of miombo woodlands is likely to result in declines in butterfly diversity. However, there was evidence of an intermediate disturbance effect for butterfly species richness, diversity and abundance with one utilisation variable, suggesting that a miombo woodland management plan that allows moderate sustainable utilisation in a heterogeneous landscape of mature miombo woodland and agriculture will simultaneously maintain butterfly communities and enable agricultural production

Recovery patterns in community composition of fruit‐feeding butterflies following 26 years of active forest restoration

Abstract Restoration of forests is now considered an essential tool to combat climate change and the global biodiversity decline. However, our understanding of how animal communities recover after restoration interventions in tropical forests is limited. Here, we aim to reveal the recovery patterns of fruit‐feeding butterfly communities across a large‐scale rainforest restoration area in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Our study represents a chronosequence resampling of fruit‐feeding butterfly communities across actively restored Afrotropical forest planted between 1995 and 2011 and primary forest reference sites. Sampling of 40 study sites was done first in the period 2011–2012 and again in the period 2020–2021 (including 5 new study sites), allowing a direct comparison of how communities have changed in nine years and to follow the progress of 26 years of active restoration. Fruit‐feeding butterfly community composition showed a directional pattern from the younger restored to older restored and primary forests. However, over the nine years, the similarity of community composition to primary forest increased only in younger restored forests. Furthermore, different characteristics of community structure and different diversity facets recovered at different paces. For example, the count of individuals, the count of species, and phylogenetic diversity increased in the restored forests; however, Simpson's diversity increased only in the older restored forest. Our study shows that active restoration can help fruit‐feeding butterfly communities become increasingly similar to communities found in primary forests, and such changes can be relatively fast in the early‐successional phases of tropical forests but slow down at later phases

“I Have Remained Strong Because of That Food”: Acceptability and Use of Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements Among Pregnant HIV-Infected Ugandan Women Receiving Combination Antiretroviral Therapy

We evaluated the acceptability and use of macronutrient supplementation among HIV-infected pregnant Ugandan women receiving antiretroviral therapy in a clinical study (NCT 00993031). We first conducted formative research among 56 pregnant and lactating women to select a supplement regimen. Acceptability and use of the supplementation regimen [35 sachets of lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) and 4 or 6 kg of instant soy porridge for the household provided monthly] were evaluated among 87 pregnant women. Organoleptic assessments of LNS were favorable. Participants reported consuming LNS a mean of 6.1 days per week, and adherence to recommended consumption behaviors (e.g. frequency, quantity, not sharing) was >80%. Few women reported negative social consequences of supplementation. The majority of participants also consumed most of the porridge intended for the household. In sum, LNS was acceptable and used regularly. Larger studies to evaluate physical and psychosocial consequences of LNS during pregnancy among HIV-infected women are warranted