Assessment of Ecological Diversity of Butterflies and Their Association With Host and Nectar Plants in Selected Areas of the Amravati Region, Maharashtra, India. A Review of Research from 2010 To 2025

Butterflies are important components of terrestrial ecosystems and are widely recognized as useful ecological indicators because their distribution, abundance and seasonal occurrence respond rapidly to changes in vegetation structure and environmental conditions. The Amravati region of Maharashtra contains a heterogeneous landscape comprising dry deciduous forests, scrublands, agricultural areas, urban and semi-urban habitats, riverine environments and protected areas such as Melghat Tiger Reserve. These habitats support a diverse butterfly fauna and provide larval host plants as well as adult nectar resources. The present review synthesizes available literature on butterfly diversity and butterfly–plant associations in selected areas of the Amravati region. In Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University campus and the Melghat landscape. Previous investigations documented 48 butterfly species from five families on the university campus and identified 19 nectar plants belonging to 12 plant families. Tiple et al. (2006), Studies from Melghat reported considerably greater diversity, including 101 butterfly species and 101 larval host plants.
The literature indicates that butterfly assemblages are strongly associated with vegetation composition, availability and continuity of larval host plants, abundance of flowering plants, floral morphology, flower colour, flowering period and habitat structure. Host-plant availability is particularly important because larval stages depend on specific plant resources, whereas adults frequently use a broader range of nectar sources. The review identifies the need for standardized, long-term monitoring of butterflies and their host and nectar plants across forest, agricultural, urban and semi-natural habitats of Amravati. Conservation planning should emphasize the maintenance of native vegetation, seasonal floral resources, larval host plants and habitat connectivity. The synthesis provides a framework for future field-based assessment of butterfly ecological diversity in the Amravati region. Butterflies are among the most studied, diverse, and widespread animal groups, making them an ideal model for climate change research. They are particularly informative for studying the effects of climate change on species ecology because they are ectotherms that thermoregulate using a suite of physiological, behavioural, and phenotypic traits (Hill et al.2021). By studying these climate-based impacts on the ecological processes of Lepidoptera, appropriate strategies for species conservation and habitat management can be proposed broadly across animals (Bladon et al. 2020).

Butterflies, Amravati, Melghat, host plants, nectar plants, Species diversity, Urban ecosystem

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