Is there stratification in diversity or preferred flight height of geometroid moths in Malaysian lowland tropical forest?

Moths from the superfamily Geometroidea were collected using standard Rotha msted light-traps at three levels on a tower (i.e. 1, 15, and 30 m) concurr ently monthly for thirteen months in a lowland dipterocarp forest in Penins ular Malaysia. There was no consistently significant difference in species richness, abundance and diversity (as measured by alpha from the log-series ) for individual sampling months between the three levels although values t ended to be lower at the highest level. The diversity for the canopy (high) level was significantly lower when all samples were pooled. Here plant div ersity is lower and the forest architecture is less complex. The geometroid moths are uniformly distributed throughout the three levels, with indicati ons of preference for canopy or ground-level flight for some higher taxa. S ome groups, such as Geometrinae, show much narrower vertical flight pattern s than do others, such as Boarmiini. No significant coincidence of flight p reference levels within distinct strata was detected.