Altitudinal diversity patterns of moths in a temperate deciduous forest of Northern Iran

Little is recently known about the patterns of diversity of moths and their relationship with spatial parameters in the Hyrcanian forests of northern Iran. We selected mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest (MCBF) (less than 400 m), Persian ironwood-common hornbeam forest (PCF) (between 400 and 650 m) and beech forest (BF) (between 650 and 900 m) for sampling the moth assemblages in a temperate deciduous forest of northern Iran to enhance these current knowledge gaps. Light trapping yielded a total of 474 moths representing 84 species. A significant correlation was found between the total number of species and elevational distribution. In general, the dominant species were: Idaea sp. (20.22%), Arctia villica (13.73%) and P. rhomboidaria (12.8%) at less than 400 m, between 400 and 650 m, and between 650 and 900 m, respectively. Overall abundance, species richness, Fisher's alpha, and turnover rate indices followed the hump-shaped distribution pattern with an increase in altitude. The changes in moth assemblages presented with increasing elevation support our hypothesis that these trends are associated with variations in environmental conditions experienced with increasing altitude in the different forest types. Our results show that vegetation heterogeneity of a forest is the main key to moth richness, assemblage composition, and relative abundance.