A cross-taxonomic comparison of bird and butterfly communities of Tamhini Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra, India, spanning two decades

Human disturbance can alter the structure and function of ecological communities. We studied the bird and butterfly communities of Tamhini Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra, India, to understand the effects of changing land use and management in two decades. We replicated a previous study conducted between 1998 and 2001; sampling seven line transects every fortnight between April 2016 and April 2017. Species diversity increased for both taxa, and community composition was significantly different across studies. Generalist species witnessed a maximum increase in diversity, while some specialist guilds declined. While this study is limited in spatial scale, we highlight the effects of local changes in land use and management across trophic levels and the cascading effects on ecosystem function