104 research outputs found
Impact of grazing management on hibernating caterpillars of the butterfly melitaea cinxia in calcareous grasslands
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Garden varieties: how attractive are recommended garden plants to butterflies?
One way the public can engage in insect conservation is through wildlife gardening, including the growing of insect-friendly flowers as sources of nectar. However, plant varieties differ in the types of insects they attract. To determine which garden plants attracted which butterflies, we counted butterflies nectaring on 11 varieties of summer-flowering garden plants in a rural garden in East Sussex, UK. These plants were all from a list of 100 varieties considered attractive to British butterflies, and included the five varieties specifically listed by the UK charity Butterfly Conservation as best for summer nectar. A total of 2659 flower visits from 14 butterfly and one moth species were observed. We performed a principal components analysis which showed contrasting patterns between the species attracted to Origanum vulgare and Buddleia davidii. The âbutterfly bushâ Buddleia attracted many nymphalines, such as the peacock, Inachis io, but very few satyrines such as the gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus, which mostly visited Origanum. Eupatorium cannibinum had the highest Simpsonâs Diversity score of 0.75, while Buddleia and Origanum were lower, scoring 0.66 and 0.50 respectively. No one plant was good at attracting all observed butterfly species, as each attracted only a subset of the butterfly community. We conclude that to create a butterfly-friendly garden, a variety of plant species are required as nectar sources for butterflies. Furthermore, garden plant recommendations can probably benefit from being more precise as to the species of butterfly they attract
Habitat amount and distribution modify community dynamics under climate change
Habitat fragmentation may present a major impediment to species range shifts caused by climate change, but how it affects local community dynamics in a changing climate has so far not been adequately investigated empirically. Using long-term monitoring data of butterfly assemblages, we tested the effects of the amount and distribution of semi-natural habitat (SNH), moderated by species traits, on climate-driven species turnover. We found that spatially dispersed SNH favoured the colonisation of warm-adapted and mobile species. In contrast, extinction risk of cold-adapted species increased in dispersed (as opposed to aggregated) habitats and when the amount of SNH was low. Strengthening habitat networks by maintaining or creating stepping-stone patches could thus allow warm-adapted species to expand their range, while increasing the area of natural habitat and its spatial cohesion may be important to aid the local persistence of species threatened by a warming climate
Silvopastoral systems as a tool for territorial sustainability and biodiversity
Rural and livestock population evolution in the inner north of Portugal
has demonstrated a great regression with consequences for environment and nature
conservation. In this context, and taking into account that pastoral activity has
shaped the natural areas of mountain territories since its beginning and that territories
are currently part of Natura 2000 network, rethinking the importance of such
activity has become vital. The constraints affecting daily tasks performed by shepherds
and livestock breeders as well as the installed social segregation are a strong
limitation. However, current research developed in the context of nature conservation
has demonstrated the importance of the landscape mosaic promoted by grazing
in the preservation of priority habitats. In this way, it is urgent to assess the issue of
shepherds and livestock breedersâ image in terms of their roles, relationships and
concerns, as well as to assess pastoralism socioeconomics in regard to self-consumption,
market and rural self-sufficiency. In this perspective, this work
presents an analysis of the adaptation of grazing to current times, perceiving its
limitations and success potential.This work is supported by European Structural and Investment Funds,
FEDER component, through the Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme
(COMPETE 2020) [Project No. 006971 (UID/SOC/04011)], and national funds, through FCT,
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under project UID/SOC/04011/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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Species richness declines and biotic homogenization have slowed down for NW-European pollinators and plants
Concern about biodiversity loss has led to increased public investment in conservation. Whereas there is a
widespread perception that such initiatives have been unsuccessful, there are few quantitative tests of this
perception. Here, we evaluate whether rates of biodiversity change have altered in recent decades in three
European countries (Great Britain, Netherlands and Belgium) for plants and flower visiting insects. We
compared four 20-year periods, comparing periods of rapid land-use intensification and natural habitat loss
(1930â1990) with a period of increased conservation investment (post-1990). We found that extensive species
richness loss and biotic homogenisation occurred before 1990, whereas these negative trends became
substantially less accentuated during recent decades, being partially reversed for certain taxa (e.g. bees in
Great Britain and Netherlands). These results highlight the potential to maintain or even restore current
species assemblages (which despite past extinctions are still of great conservation value), at least in regions
where large-scale land-use intensification and natural habitat loss has ceased
Agricultural land-use change and ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) colonization in Pyrenean landscapes: an interdisciplinary case study
 ONLINE FIRSTInternational audienceChanges in agricultural land use are responsible for significant modifications in mountain landscapes. This study is part of an interdisciplinary research on the processes and consequences of spontaneous afforestation of Pyrenean landscapes by ash, and the possibilities for its management. We address the relationships between vegetation dynamics and land-use change from the combination of an agricultural study of change in farm management and an ecological study of grassland colonization by ash. In the framework of a village case study, we characterized parcels management and land-use histories, and analyzed the dynamics of the composition of grassland vegetation communities. From a joint analysis of the results obtained in each discipline, we discuss the limitations and comple-mentarities of the two approaches for the interdisciplinary assessment of the afforestation process
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Interacting effects of climate change and habitat fragmentation on drought-sensitive butterflies
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of some climatic extremes. These may have drastic impacts on biodiversity, particularly if meteorological thresholds are crossed, leading to population collapses. Should this occur repeatedly, populations may be unable to recover, resulting in local extinctions. Comprehensive time series data on butterflies in Great Britain provide a rare opportunity to quantify population responses to both past severe drought and the interaction with habitat area and fragmentation. Here, we combine this knowledge with future projections from multiple climate models, for different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), and for simultaneous modelled responses to different landscape characteristics. Under RCP8.5, which is associated with âbusiness as usualâ emissions, widespread drought-sensitive butterfly population extinctions could occur as early as 2050. However, by managing landscapes and particularly reducing habitat fragmentation, the probability of persistence until mid-century improves from around zero to between 6 and 42% (95% confidence interval). Achieving persistence with a greater than 50% chance and right through to 2100 is possible only under both low climate change (RCP2.6) and semi-natural habitat restoration. Our data show that, for these drought-sensitive butterflies, persistence is achieved more effectively by restoring semi-natural landscapes to reduce fragmentation, rather than simply focusing on increasing habitat area, but this will only be successful in combination with substantial emission reductions
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