Quantitative data from six years (2013-2018) of light trap sampling of macromoths (Lepidoptera) in Mt. Hallasan National Park, South Korea

Abstract Background This paper presents the results of long-term monitoring of macromoth communities in Mt. Hallasan National Park, South Korea. This mountain shows an altitudinal gradient of vegetation from evergreen deciduous to boreal trees, harbouring more than 550 species of vascular plants. The goal of this project was to investigate the changes in moth assemblages along the altitudinal gradient in this mountain ecosystem. We monitored macromoth communities at 11 sites in Mt. Hallasan National Park from 2013 to 2018, during which time moths were collected once a month from May to October, using an ultraviolet bucket trap. The generated dataset, which represented 587 species and 13,249 individuals from 14 families, can be adopted to establish a baseline for development of a network-orientated database to assess temporal and spatial changes of moths in temperate and tropical forests. New information This is the first long-term sampling-event dataset on macromoth assemblages in changing vegetation from evergreen deciduous to boreal tree zones, conducted in Mt. Hallasan National Park, the national park at the highest elevation and located on the largest volcanic island in South Korea. The aim of this study was to provide a description and a link to published data in the format of a peer-reviewed journal and to provide recognition of the effort in a scholarly article (based on data paper definition published at https://www.gbif.org/en/data-papers).


Introduction
Island ecosystems are self-maintaining entities with well-defined geographical limits and are the combined products of geography (area, latitude, altitude, isolation), ecology (geology, biotope availability, history, land use and management), biology (mobility, colonisation capability, presence of organisms) and time. Thus, island biota are considered 'individuals' carrying unique information regarding complex interactions amongst biological, geographical and historical factors (Vitousek et al. 1995, Lomolino et al. 2010Dapporto and Dennis 2008. However, a number of difficulties, inherent to examining biological diversity and ecosystem functioning on islands, exist due to the less diverse and disharmonious ecosystems and the varying degree of anthropogenic alteration (Vitousek et al. 1995). Montane species on islands are often endemic to a single mountain range and are vulnerable to climate change because they tend to occur in small populations, isolated from other source populations, climatically restricted and limited from moving to higher elevations upon reaching the summit of the mountain (Meyer et al. 2015).
Lepidoptera are one of the mega-diversity insect groups, comprised of more than 160,000 species that play important roles as herbivores and pollinators in terrestrial ecosystems. They also act as a food source for birds and bats and a vital linkage in the food chain between plants and higher trophic organisms. Due to their diversity, easy sampling with a light trap and known habitat associations, moths are considered one of the most suitable insect groups for assessing species diversity against changes in landscape change and management (Alison et al. 2017, Dirzo et al. 2014, Hallmann et al. 2019, Kamikura and Sakata 2019, Kitching et al. 2000, Macgregor et al. 2016, Summerville et al. 2004.
The aim of this study was to investigate the diversity and changes in macromoth communities at 11 sites in Mt. Hallasan National Park, South Korea, over a period of six years (2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018). We sampled macromoths to monitor their long-term changes in an island's mountain ecosystem. The elevational gradient along Mt. Hallasan National Park has resulted in vertical stratification of vegetation zones from boreal to evergreen deciduous, producing a unique biodiversity pattern (Kang 2006, Kong 2007. Elevation gradients on mountains have the potential to enhance our understanding of the impact of climate change on biological communities. Thus, the diversity and distribution of montane species will be a baseline for development of a network-orientated database to assess species responses to climate change in temperate and tropical forests.

Project description
Title: Long-term monitoring of macromoths in the southern mountains of South Korea Personnel: Sei-Woong Choi and Sang-Hyeon Na Study area description: Mt. Hallasan National Park (highest peak 1,950 m above sea level, total area 149 km ), one of South Korea's 22 National Parks, is located on the nation's largest volcanic island, Jeju-do (126°09'42"-126°56'57" E, 33°11'27"-33°33'50" N, 1,825 km , Fig. 1). The annual average temperature of Jeju-do Island is 5.3-10.9°C in areas more than 600 m above sea level and 15.2-16.2°C in coastal areas and the annual precipitation is 2,968-4,746 mm in areas more than 600 m above sea level and 1,095-1,851 mm in coastal areas (Kang 2006).
The vegetation on Mt. Hallasan is comprised of four zones: alpine zone (> 1,800 m a.s.l.), subalpine zone (1,500-1,800 m), temperate deciduous tree zone (400-1,500 m) and evergreen deciduous tree zone (600 m in the southern aspect and 400 m in the northern aspect) (Kong 2007   To minimise sampling bias, we sampled moths simultaneously at all 11 sites. Traps were emptied the morning after collection and insects were brought to the lab for identification. Moths were identified at species level using taxonomic literature (Kim et al. 2001, Kononenko et al. 1998, Shin 2001, Kim et al. 2016. Vouchers of collected specimens were deposited in the collection of the Laboratory of Environmental Education, Mokpo National University, South Korea.

Geographic coverage
Description: Survey areas for collecting moths comprised evergreen deciduous and subalpine tree zones

Additional information
Suppl. material 1: The total number of moths collected at 11 sites on Mt. Hallasan represented 587 species and 13,249 individuals from 14 families. Amongst the sites surveyed, the total number of species was highest at site JJ_4 (293 species) and the total number of individuals was highest at site JJ_3 (2738 individuals) ( Table 2,Table 3).    The family Geometridae was dominant in the total number of species (33%) and in the total number of individuals (42%) (Figs 2, 3). The three families, Geometridae, Erebidae, and Noctuidae, comprised most of the samples: 81.6% of the total species and 79.5% of the total individuals. On the other hand, moths of the Bombycidae and Zygaenidae families represented one and two species, respectively.

Author contributions
Sei-Woong Choi conceived and designed the experiments, performed the field experiments, analysed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper and approved the final draft.
Sang-Hyeon Na performed the field experiments, compiled the data, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper and approved the final draft.