Abstract: To understand diversity of butterfly community and the effects of human disturbance in different habitats of Saihanwula Nature Reserve, butterfly community composition was surveyed from 2016 to 2017 in five different habitats, i.e. mountain grassland, river wetland, mountain forest, typical steppe, and wetland meadow. A total of 1826 butterfly individuals were collected, of which 71 species belonging to five families 55 genera were identified. Pieridae had the most number of individuals. Nymphalidae had the most number of species and families. The composition of butterflies differed among different habitats. The highest species number was in mountain forest, with 58 species from 47 families, while the least was in the typical steppe, with 10 species from nine families. The analysis of butterfly community characteristics showed that the Nymphalidae had the highest Shannon diversity index (2.93) and Margalef richness index (5.44). Hesperiidae had the highest Pielou evenness index (0.86) and Papilionidae had the highest Berger-Parker dominance index (0.77). There was a significant difference in the diversity of butterflies among habitats, with the diversity index being the highest in mountain forest and the lowest in the typical steppe. Moreover, the diversity index of butterfly community had obvious temporal pattern, being the highest in July and the lowest in September. The Jaccard community similarity (0.43) was the highest between mountain grassland and wetland meadow. There was a clear relationship between diversity of butterfly community and vegetation type. Human disturbance had negative effects on butterfly community diversity.

Key words: bamboo forest., soil nutrient, stoichiometry, slope direction