THE SPATIAL VARIABILITY OF RARE AND COMMON SPECIES IN A GALL-INHABITING LEPIDOPTERA COMMUNITY

Determining the spatial variability in abundance structure of rare spe cies is necessary to assess the validity of the often claimed properti es of rare species, i.e. as being both vulnerable to extinction and go od indicators of environmental change. The spatial concordance of the Lepidoptera species that inhabit a fungus-induced gall on Acacia karro o was examined across South Africa. A positive relationship was found between species distribution and abundance. The common and moderately common species in the community were highly concordant, although the r are species were diffusive. As such, the vulnerability of the rare spe cies in this community is difficult to assess and they are unlikely to make useful indicators of environmental change. Although preliminary results suggest that the community is temporally concordant, establish ing the level of temporal, in addition to spatial, concordance of rari ty is necessary to determine the mechanisms responsible for the abunda nce structure of rare species in communities.