Limestone Quarries as Refuges for European Xerophilous Butterflies

Abstract

The large‐scale decline of traditionally managed early‐successional habitats caused by the joint effects of agricultural intensification and abandonment of marginal lands has resulted in a continent‐wide decline of xerophilous butterflies throughout Europe. The question is whether newly generated early‐successional sites of industrial origin may partially compensate for this habitat loss. We studied the butterfly assemblages of 21 limestone quarries in the region of Moravia, Czech Republic, within an important corridor of latitudinal faunal migrations, the Moravian Gate. Comparison of species abundances in the quarries with their regional distribution allowed us to delimit a group of species, predominately xerophilous and sedentary, for which the quarries serve as refuges. Total species richness, number of species in the group, and numbers of xerophilous and sedentary species increased toward the south and were high in young and actively operating quarries and in quarries that adjoined warm “steppe” grasslands. Canonical correspondence analyses suggested that habitats within the quarries and adjoining habitats explained much higher proportions of variance than either latitude or the variables related to quarrying. However, the positive effects of southern position and active quarrying were highly significant. Both xerophilous species of the earliest‐succession barrens and of later‐succession scrub inhabited the quarries, owing to the inherent heterogeneity of such sites. It follows that quarrying does not harm the priority butterflies and may be regarded as a method of habitat creation, provided that ( 1 ) the operators support habitat heterogeneity within the quarries, ( 2 ) xerophilous sites in the vicinity are preserved and adequately managed, and ( 3 ) other phenomena of conservation importance are not adversely affected.

How to increase the value of urban areas for butterfly conservation? A lesson from Prague nature reserves and parks

“…Shapiro, 2002;Gaston et al, 2005). Many authors (Benes et al, 2003;Eyre et al, 2004;Saarinen et al, 2005;Tropek et al, 2010) showed that industrial and urban barrens may harbour insects depending on warm and dry microclimates. Wenzel et al (2006) detected losses of many xerophilous species from isolated xeric reserves embedded within intensively farmed rural matrix, attributing this to isolation and spillover effects from the farmland.…”

Increasing patch area, proximity of human settlement and larval food plants positively affect the occurrence and local population size of the habitat specialist butterfly Polyommatus coridon (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in fragmented calcareous grasslands

“…abandonment of management, subsequent invasion of shrubs, high fragmentation due to agriculture intensification, habitat quality changes related to nutrient flow from surrounding farmland) is semi-natural calcareous grassland (Keymer & Leach, 1990). In fact, in central Europe, many calcareous grasslands are limited to small isolated patches, often located on hills or limestone outcrops (Beneš et al, 2003;Krauss et al, 2004;Wenzel et al, 2006). This habitat, however, is of leading conservation interest because of a high richness of plant and insect species (Van Swaay, 2002;Walis DeVries et al, 2002).…”

The role of rock mining for maintaining Dauco carotae-Crepidetum rhoeadifoliae Hejný et Grüll in Hejný et al. 1979 — a new to Poland plant association

“…Man-made habitats, mostly quarries, embankments, banks, slopes of roads and ditches, as well as spoil tips, are convenient locations for grassland development and settlement of receding and rare species. Such processes were frequently observed both in Poland and in other countries [8,[61][62][63][64]. To a certain degree, the abundance of grassland sozophytes in anthropogenic habitats is also connected with the shrinkage of xerothermic grassland areas in Silesia [60] and, as a result, a high participation of grassland plants in the sozophyte group.…”