You have 6 locations with 2 to 6 transects per location. You need to consider issues associated with sampling effort: A 1 sq km park with 6 transects compared to a 5 sq km park with 2 transects could cause all sorts of trouble.

Island biogeography theory would state that the diversity in the large parks should be greater than in the small parks. However, this will be influenced by the distance a park is from other park/wilderness areas. That crazy old man on Elm street has planted a half acre of native plants of all description. Even his fish pond (all 2 feet of it) has an assortment of native marsh/aquatic plants. Those abandoned train tracks or vacant lot can serve as habitat. While a failure to find the expected patterns in not a failure of the theory, if they are present it gives another angle to the research.

There should be a greater proportion of generalists in the small park. The large park should support a greater diversity of specialists based on larval host. The large park should have more butterflies that are weak fliers. Species that are agricultural pests should be more common because Jose's backyard garden might have dill for some swallowtails in your samples.

You could talk about sampling. Maybe Joe takes more interests and care in walking the transects and records more insects. Frank, mostly gets exercise. Bob is a different problem because he is not good at keeping within the 3m transect width. If a bright orange sulfur flies within 5m that is ok. It is interesting and will be counted. Adam, tends to walk more slowly. Thus butterflies he spots can fly ahead and be counted twice or more.

With enough data, can you discuss seasonal effects? Species 1 is only present as an adult in early June, while species 2 is more common in late August. Seasonality might be caused by temperature or rainfall. Can you find a daily cycle as well?

well the transects are equally balanced according to the area so thats not a worry. also these transects have been walked by the same 3 people together in all the transects which again is not a data issue. seasonality changes of one particular species is also considered as this might have significance in the climate change (but the data set is just for 2015-16 and the published record for the previous study was as old as 1940s and 1999) which might not get a significant result as the gaps are too large. seasonal variation will be studied but unfortunately this year so far has experienced harsh summer and above normal rainfall in the area. i guess with more recurring data over the years should give a better picture rather than just concluding with one years sampling effort.

Coming to the second part, surprisingly two smaller parks with 2 and 4 transects respectively have much higher species count than the other ones which have 4-6 transects which makes your point valid again. Life Cycle so far has not been studied as the team is short of people who need to dedicate for that alone.

What I was thinking was running a t-test month wise and season wise and ANOVA to see if there is any significance. Is there any other modelling I should consider?

Hi  Roshan:

Perhaps this paper can help. We measured butterfly diversity in six  parks in the city of Santiago de Cali, Colombia using transect counts and butterfly traps.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236372045_Diversity_of_diurnal_butterflies_Lepidoptera_Papilionoidea_and_Hesperioidea_in_Santiago_de_Cali_Valle_del_Cauca_Colombia

Article Diversity of diurnal butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea...

Thank you very much Mr Constantino. Will surely got through it and get back to you if i have doubts. By any chance is there an English version on the same? Appreciate your help.

Kind Regards

Roshan