Habitat preferences of Maculinea arion and its Myrmica host ants: implications for habitat management in Italian Alps

Casacci, Luca Pietro; Witek, Magdalena; Patricelli, Dario; Solazzo, Gaetano; Balletto, Emilio; Bonelli, Simona

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-1442-7_16

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Accordingly, M. arion is listed in Annex IV of the Habitats Directive. It is also considered an important indicator of habitat quality, as well as an umbrella species for several peculiar kinds of grassland communities (Randle et al 2005;Spitzer et al 2009;Casacci et al 2011). In other words, its protection provides indirect benefits to many other species.…”

Section: Maculinea Arion: the Genetic Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Evolutionarily Significant Unit” concept and its applicability in biological conservation

Casacci

Barbero

Balletto

2013

Italian Journal of Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although most conservationists claim to protect "species", the conservation unit actually and practically managed is the individual population. As resources are not unlimited, we need to focus on a restricted number of populations. But how can we select them? The Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU), first conceptualised by Ryder in 1986, may offer some answer. Several definitions have been proposed for the ESU, but all make reference to units "whose divergence can be measured or evaluated by putting differential emphasis on the role of evolutionary forces at varied temporal scales". Thus, an ESU might be fully identical with a "species", or a "species" could be composed of multiple ESUs. On the other hand, an ESU might comprise single/multiple populations exchanging a degree of gene flow, such as meta-populations. In an attempt to show strengths and weaknesses of ESU concepts, we present here, among several others, some case studies on the myrmecophilous butterflies of the genus Maculinea. In particular, we analyse the apparently everlasting debate about Maculinea alcon and M. rebeli, whose separation into separate species has been accepted by many authors, on mainly ecological criteria, but has not been fully supported by molecular analyses. We also discuss how the tight association with host ants may have driven selection for increasingly more strictly adapted Maculinea populations, arguably deserving specific taxonomic identity. Finally we discuss how current DNA analyses may fail to detect critical information on differences between taxa recently originated by the action of separate adaptive processes, which non-molecular studies can sometimes reveal. We conclude by discussing some current and often conflicting taxonomic trends, in their relationships with conservation policies.

show abstract

Section: Maculinea Arion: the Genetic Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Evolutionarily Significant Unit” concept and its applicability in biological conservation

Casacci

Barbero

Balletto

2013

Italian Journal of Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We collected data on the distribution of thyme and on the abundance of Myrmica ants. We measured sward height close to the each nest, as an indicator of the microclimatic niche, the distance between the ant colonies and the butterfly foodplant, as well as the structure of vegetation patches in 14 in the Western Italian Alps (Val Ferret: Aosta) (Casacci et al, 2011). Results from our study showed that colonies of different Myrmica species occur at different distances from T. pulegioides plants, probably as a consequence of their different microhabitat requirements.…”

Section: Habitat Preferences Of Maculinea Arion In the Alpsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Projections of climate change scenarios predict that many of Maculinea arion populations will disappear from Europe in the next 50 years and those close to the southern limits of the species' range will be the most threatened (Casacci et al, 2011). While the vast majority of the Italian populations of M. arion are expected to become extinct, some will survive in mountain areas, especially in the Alps (Settele et al, 2008 -Fig.…”

Section: Habitat Preferences Of Maculinea Arion In the Alpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Across Europe investigations of the host-ant specificity of Maculinea butterflies have demonstrated that patterns are very complicated. Both single-and multiple-host populations are currently known to exist for each of Maculinea species, with the only exception of M. nausithous, which is associated to one Myrmica species (M. rubra), both at local and at broad geographical scale (Casacci et al, 2011;Patricelli et al, 2010;Pech et al, 2007;Tartally et al, 2008;Witek et al, 2008). Moreover, on the base of host specificity data obtained for M. alcon and M. rebeli, Pech et al (2007) postulated that single-host specialization tends to develop near the butterfly range edges.…”

Section: Host Ant Specificitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Butterfly Diversity in a Changing Scenario

Bonelli¹,

Casacci²,

Cerrato³

et al. 2011

Changing Diversity in Changing Environment

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…This negative effect is caused by a significant reduction in the availability of larval host plants. Therefore, meadow specialists with strict trophic requirements, e.g., Maculinea arion (Casacci et al 2011), M. nausithous, M. teleius (Witek et al 2010), and Coenonympha hero (Cassel and Tammaru 2003), tend to suffer most. Intensive agriculture has a negative effect on other species as well, with Coenonympha oedippus (Fabricius, 1787) (Ö rvössy et al 2013), Muschampia cribrellum (Eversmann, 1841) (Dincǎ et al 2010), and Plebejus pylaon (Fischer, 1832) (Munguira and Martín 1993) serving as examples.…”

Section: Intensive Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

Land management impacts on European butterflies of conservation concern: a review

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent land use changes, namely the intensification of agriculture and forestry as well as the abandonment of traditional grassland management methods, have resulted in the decline of butterfly diversity in Europe. Appropriate management of butterfly habitats is thus required in order to reverse this negative trend. The aim of our study was to review the available literary information concerning the effects of various types of management on European butterflies of conservation concern, and to provide practical recommendations for the management of butterfly habitats. Since vegetation succession is a major threat to butterfly populations, there is a need for activities to suppress this process. Extensive grazing and rotational mowing, which imitate the traditional way of meadow use, appear to be the most suitable management in this respect. Both grazing and mowing should optimally be of low intensity and follow a mosaic design, with different land fragments being successively used at different times. Habitat disturbance through trampling, either associated with grazing or various sporting activities (hiking, biking, horse riding), or through occasional small-area burning, also prove to be beneficial for many butterflies. In the case of woodland species, maintaining open habitats within forests (glades, clearings, wide road verges) and thinning forest stands is recommended. Among the unfavourable management activities identified, the most harmful are afforestation of open lands and drainage works. Therefore, such activities must be stopped at butterfly sites in order to ensure the effective conservation of species of conservation concern.

show abstract

Habitat preferences of Maculinea arion and its Myrmica host ants: implications for habitat management in Italian Alps

Cited by 5 publications

References 20 publications

The “Evolutionarily Significant Unit” concept and its applicability in biological conservation

The “Evolutionarily Significant Unit” concept and its applicability in biological conservation

Butterfly Diversity in a Changing Scenario

Land management impacts on European butterflies of conservation concern: a review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About