Functional conservation units for the endangered Alcon Blue butterfly Maculinea alcon in Belgium (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

Maes, Dirk; Vanreusel, Wouter; Talloen, Willem; Dyck, Hans Van

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2004.02.018

Cited by 81 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Moreover, the correlation between variation in neutral markers, such as microsatellites, and fitness components remains hotly debated issue (Väli et al 2008;Ljungqvist et al 2010;Szulkin et al 2010). Nonetheless, most previous studies estimated the number of eggs laid per an average female of M. alcon at 80-100 (WallisDeVries 2004; Maes et al 2004;Radchuk et al 2012), whereas our reported value is about three-fold lower. Such a situation is clearly disadvantageous for the population persistence chances, since it translates into much lower achievable population growth rate, thus slowing down the recovery from occasional declines in 'bad years', caused by environmental stochasticity (Lande 1993).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 88%

“…The foodplants are in very short supply in most of the locality, and even within its southern core fragment their density (ca. 300 gentians per ha) is well below the typical levels recorded at M. alcon sites (WallisDeVries 2004;Nowicki et al 2007Nowicki et al , 2009Radchuk et al 2012;Czekes et al 2014; but see; Maes et al 2004). It is worth pointing out that 1000 gentians per ha has been suggested as the threshold value, below which the foodplant density becomes a critical resource for M. alcon populations (WallisDeVries 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Very small populations of M. alcon are not unique, but previous studies reported their existence in metapopulation systems (WallisDeVries 2004;Maes et al 2004;Nowicki et al 2007;Radchuk et al 2012), where they are likely to be supported by a continuous influx of immigrants from more abundant populations located nearby (Hanski 1994;Gonzalez et al 1998). In contrast, it is rather unusual that the population we investigated manages to persist in complete isolation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…after the adult flight period was already well finished, all the eggs/eggshells of M. alcon were counted separately for each plant. Both the foodplant and egg count are standard methods applied in the monitoring M. alcon populations, and they allow perfect detectability (Maes et al 2004;Nowicki 2017). …”

Section: Field Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What keeps ‘living dead’ alive: demography of a small and isolated population of Maculinea (= Phengaris) alcon

Nowicki

Deoniziak

Dziekańska³

et al. 2018

J Insect Conserv

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Small and isolated populations are prone to future extinctions and thus perceived as 'living dead'. Although generally considered to be of low conservation value, their existence can still enhance species survival at the landscape scale through improving the connectivity of other populations and facilitating some (even if little) gene flow. We investigated the demography and genetic status of a tiny and highly isolated local population of Maculinea (= Phengaris) alcon near its distribution margin with the aim of identifying the features that allow it to persist. The study comprised intensive mark-recapture, surveys of Gentiana pneumonanthe foodplants and butterfly eggs laid on them, as well as genetic analyses. The population has been found to be characterised by low genetic diversity and estimated at only a few tens of individuals. The foodplant availability turned out to be the most obvious factor limiting M. alcon abundance. Nevertheless, the life expectancy of adult butterflies is fairly long, and their flight period very short, implying that most individuals occur within the same time window. Together with the relatively little protandry observed, i.e. almost synchronous emergence of males and females, this increases the chances of random mating among the individuals. Moreover, the butterflies move freely across the core habitat fragment. All things concerned, the effective population size is presumably not much lower than the recorded population size. Our findings provide guidelines for pinpointing those among 'living dead' populations that are likely to be the most persistent and thus worth conservation efforts aimed at preserving them.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Field Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

What keeps ‘living dead’ alive: demography of a small and isolated population of Maculinea (= Phengaris) alcon

Nowicki

Deoniziak

Dziekańska³

et al. 2018

J Insect Conserv

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“…However, a sampling design of that nature was unattainable for practical reasons, since, despite extensive efforts in the field, it proved impossible to find other release points with comparable resource densities and boundary shape within our study area. The behaviour of the P. teleius, including movements, is highly dependent on two critical resources; the larval foodplant S. officinalis and the Myrmica host ants (Maes et al 2004;Batáry et al 2007Batáry et al , 2009Wynhoff et al 2008;Van Langevelde and Wynhoff 2009). To make it possible to take into account the strong effect of a resource availability which is highly variable, several dozen replicates per boundary type would be needed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different flight behaviour of the endangered scarce large blue butterfly Phengaris teleius (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) within and outside its habitat patches

et al. 2013

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Understanding individual movements in heterogeneous environments is central to predicting how landscape changes affect animal populations. An important but poorly understood phenomenon is behavioural response to habitat boundaries and the way animals cross inhospitable matrix surrounding habitat patches. Here, we analyze movement decisions, flight behaviour, and activity of the endangered scarce large blue Phengaris (Maculinea) teleius, focusing on the differences among the patterns observed in patch interior, at patch boundaries and within matrix. The probability of crossing an external patch boundary, regardless of the land use in the adjacent area, was considerably lower than crossing a 'control line' within patch interior. Movement distances, flight durations and net squared displacement were largest in matrix, while similarly smaller at patch boundaries and in patch interior. The distribution of angles between successive movements was clearly clustered around 0°(indicating flight in a straight line) in matrix and at patch boundaries, but not in patch interior. There were no differences in time spent on foraging, resting and ovipositing between patch interior and boundaries, but the first two activities rarely, and oviposition never, happened in matrix. Our results suggest that although P. teleius adults do not avoid using the resources located in the boundaries of habitat patches, they often return to the interior of the patches when crossing their boundaries. However, having entered the matrix the butterflies perform relatively long and straight flights. The estimated probability of emigration and net squared distance implies that the dispersal between local populations is common in this species in the studied area.

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Understanding Habitats

2013

Lepidoptera and Conservation

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Functional conservation units for the endangered Alcon Blue butterfly Maculinea alcon in Belgium (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

Cited by 81 publications

References 43 publications

What keeps ‘living dead’ alive: demography of a small and isolated population of Maculinea (= Phengaris) alcon

What keeps ‘living dead’ alive: demography of a small and isolated population of Maculinea (= Phengaris) alcon

Different flight behaviour of the endangered scarce large blue butterfly Phengaris teleius (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) within and outside its habitat patches

Understanding Habitats

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