Dispersal and adaptation strategies of the high mountain butterfly Boloria pales in the Romanian Carpathians

Abstract

BackgroundHabitat quality is one main trigger for the persistence of butterflies. The effects of the influencing biotic and abiotic factors may be enhanced by the challenging conditions in high-alpine environments. To better our knowledge in this field, we performed a mark-release-recapture study with Boloria pales in the Southern Carpathians.MethodsWe analysed population structure, movement and foraging behaviour to investigate special adaptations to the alpine environment and to reveal differences between sexes. We compared these aspects in one sector with and one sector without grazing to address the effects of grazing intensity on habitat quality.ResultsWe observed “soft” protandry, in which only a small number of males appeared before females, and an extended emergence of individuals over the observed flight period, dividing the population’s age structure into three phases; both observations are considered adaptations to high mountain environments. Although both sexes were mostly sedentary, movement differences between them were obvious. Males flew larger distances than females and were more flight-active. This might explain the dimorphism in foraging behaviour: males preferred nectar sources of Asteraceae, females Caprifoliaceae. Transition from the grazed to the ungrazed sector was only observed for males and not for females, but the population density was higher and the flight distances of the individuals were significantly longer on the grazed sector compared with the ungrazed one.ConclusionSoft protandry, an extended emergence of the individuals and an adapted behavioural dimorphism between sexes render to represent a good adaptation of B. pales to the harsh environmental conditions of high mountain ecosystems. However, land-use intensity apparently has severe influence on population densities and movement behaviour. To protect B. pales and other high-alpine species from the negative consequences of overgrazing, areas without or just light grazing are needed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12983-018-0298-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Acoustic cues to individuality in wild male adult African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana)

“…Rumbles are very distinct, low frequency calls that cannot be confused with other types of vocalizations produced by elephants ( Soltis, 2010 ). Individual identity of males was established visually during recording sessions by assessing the pattern of ear tears and holes and markers of age and sex, then confirmed based on photo-identification methods (following Black, Mumby & Henley, 2019 ; Bedetti et al, 2020 ) after returning to the field base. The elephants in this study were collared (as a part of a different, ongoing long-term project), allowing us to maximize the number of sightings and rumble recordings.…”

“…The elephants in this study were collared (as a part of a different, ongoing long-term project), allowing us to maximize the number of sightings and rumble recordings. To eliminate the influence of age and sex on acoustic parameters ( Stoeger & Baotic, 2016 ) and focus on individual differences, we recorded vocalizations of only mature males (over 35 years of age; age was determined following Black, Mumby & Henley, 2019 ). Furthermore, to test for individual differences in a general social context we focused our efforts only on non-musth, males.…”

Mate Choice in Double-Breeding Female Great Tits (Parus Major): Good Males or Compatible Males

“…We measured the repertoire size of all the dawn songs of one day. We defined the start of a dawn song as the time at which a bird sang its first song and the end as the time when the bird stopped singing for longer than 7 min [ 69 , 70 ]. We determine that the repertoire size followed existing song-type categorization criteria for great tits [ 71 ].…”

“…All measurements were collected by the same person. We could not consider within-individual variation during the same season; however, repertoire size was not found to differ between breeding stages [ 69 ].…”

Large-scale genetic admixture suggests high dispersal in an insect pest, the apple fruit moth

“…Both observational and genetic methods have been used to track and detect the migration and dispersal of insects. Direct observational methods like radio telemetry, harmonic radar, vertical looking radar and trapping have been used to estimate the dispersal of butterfly species [ 18 – 21 ]. Capture-mark-recapture by labeling the wings of the monarch butterfly using hydrogen (σD) and carbon (σ 13 C) showed long distance migration across the east coast of North America [ 22 ].…”