Since January 2014 I am investigating how different abiotic factors correlates with the butterfly species richness in Dhaka, a city of more than 20 million inhabitants. The pollution level is increasing rapidly with time, hence I thought there might be any relationship between butterfly species richness with various harmful elements of air! Could anyone of you please tell me, which variables should I consider here?
Some Persistence Organic Pollutant such as Phthalates, alkylphenols, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and PHAs could be in Particulate Matter in indoor air and dust. Those kind of Substances have been found as a Endocrine disruptors. Thus way would be intersting to assay the reproduction of this species influenced by those substances in air.
Please check this paper: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es0264596
It would be helpful if you consider target elements which has been reported as pollution factors by your meteorology organization or Department of Environment, then select one - two elements for tracking in butterflies of polluted area and comparing results with analysis non polluted butterflies.
First factor is the density and viability of flowering plants. Then niose, light but particulate from coal or diesel burnning can affect butterfly presence. At end you may select different plots at a distance from centre and follow population dynamics as well a selected variable from your actual air analysis network. At end is the level of information available in situ that can be useful to this topic.
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