THE ROLE OF WILDLIFE REFUGES IN MOTH DIVERSITY (CASE STUDY: KHABR NATIONAL PARK)

Because of its diverse flora comprising various trees and shrubs, Khabr NationalPark was initially designated as wildlife refuge. Having 149,982 ha area thisrefuge includes vast ranges of geographical regions range from 1040 to 3860m. Mean annual precipitation and temperature of 300-200 mm and °21-9Crespectively have resulted in arid and cold semi arid climate in this wildliferefuge (Darvishsefat, 2006). The danger of extinction, due to global warmingand excessive use of the environment, menaces the fauna of animals living inthe planet. So, wildlife refuges are assigned and to be considered as the keyregions to protect animals of extinction danger or decelerate this process.Biodiversity studies of moth families have been carried on in different countries andnational parks as well and the result of those studies show the important role of thoseareas to maintain the richness of this small insects (see: Ivinskis & Miatleuski, 1999;Pogue, 2005; Pogue, 2006). The porpuse of this study is to compare the richnessof the noctuid moth species of Khabr National Park with other parts of Kermanprovince to evaluate whether wildlife refuges could potentially protect small insectsbeside their protective role to save larg sized animals.