Relative importance of resource quantity, isolation and habitat quality for landscape distribution of a monophagous butterfly

By Jochen Krauss, I. Steffan‐Dewenter, C. Müller, T. Tscharntke. 2005

84 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Fragmentation of food resources is a major cause of species extinction. We tested the effects of habitat area, isolation and quality for the occurrence and population density of the endangered butterfly Polyommatus coridon. Polyommatus coridon larvae are monophagous on the plant Hippocrepis comosa, and both species are specialised on calcareous grassland, which is an endangered and highly fragmented habitat type in Germany. In 2001 we surveyed all known calcareous grasslands (n=298) around the city of Gottingen (Germany) to map the population size of H. comosa in these habitats. Further, habitat isolation (between-patch distance: 70–7220 m) and habitat quality (cover of flowering plants, height of herb layer, percent bare ground, cover of shrub layer, wind protection, inclination) were quantified. Hippocrepis comosa occurred on only 124 fragments, which were then surveyed by 20 min transect counts for adult P. coridon in 2001 and 2002. Occurrence and population density of P. coridon were largely determined by the population size of its larval food plant, which was correlated with grassland area. Effects of habitat isolation and habitat quality on P. coridon populations contributed only little to the explanation. In conclusion, this monophagous habitat specialist depended on large habitats with large food plant populations to exist in viable populations. Habitat isolation and quality appear to contribute to occurrence and density patterns only in landscapes where these factors shift towards extremes, therefore general recommendations for conservation programs are difficult as they depend on regional distinctions.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f51af573d78645161edf359e48f0a227e723816b

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. Josef Settele
2. H. Van Dyck
3. J. Dover
4. C. Müller
5. G. Cozzi
6. Jochen Krauss
7. T. Shreeve
8. M. Konvička

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. Josef Settele
2. C. Müller
3. H. Van Dyck
4. J. Dover
5. G. Cozzi
6. Jochen Krauss
7. T. Shreeve
8. M. Konvička

In Plant Science

1. Josef Settele
2. C. Müller
3. J. Dover
4. G. Cozzi
5. Jochen Krauss
6. T. Shreeve
7. M. Konvička
8. H. Van Dyck

Citations in the corpus

• Ecology of butterflies in Europe (2009, background): “Other studies aim at identifying the scale of perception or the scale of habitat use by considering the habitat context on different spatial scales (e.g. Steffan-Dewenter et al., 2002; Binzenhöfer et al., 2005; Krauss et al., 2005).”
• How do local habitat management and landscape structure at different spatial scales affect fritillary butterfly distribution on fragmented wetlands? (2008, background): “Habitat area (Connor et al. 2000; Krauss et al. 2004, 2005), habitat quality (Thomas et al. 2001) and altitude (Boggs and Murphy 1997; Wettstein and Schmid 1999) affect the distribution of species.”
• The influences of landscape structure on butterfly distribution and movement: a review (2009, background): “…levels of leaf litter and human-mediated disturbance (e.g. stock grazing) were more important than area or isolation in determining patch occupancy for the butterfly Speyeria nokomis apacheana in the Great Basin of western North America (see also LeónCortés et al. 2003; Krauss et al. 2004, 2005).”