Phenology, mobility and behaviour of the arcto-alpine species Boloria napaea in its arctic habitat

Abstract

Arctic and alpine environments present extreme, but different, challenges to survival. We therefore studied the ecological adaptation of the arctic-alpine fritillary Boloria napaea in northern Sweden and compared these results with the eastern Alps. Using mark-release-recapture, we analysed phenology, mobility, activity patterns, change in wing condition and nectar sources. The phenology showed no protandry, but a longer flight period of the females. Wing conditions revealed a linear decay being quicker in males than females. The mean flight distances were higher for males than females (143 vs 92 m). In general, males were more flight active, while females invested more time in feeding and resting. The shortness of the flight period in the Arctic is apparently a particular adaptation to these harsh conditions, not even allowing protandry, and constraining all individuals to hatch during a short period. These conditions also forced the individuals to concentrate on flight and alimentation. In general, Arctic and Alpine populations of B. napaea show few differences, but the species seems to be even better adapted to the northern environments. Thus, the short temporal separation of these populations seems not to have been sufficient for a divergent adaptation in the southern mountains.

Sex differences in the foraging behavior of a generalist hawkmoth

“…As females invest into heavier abdomens at larger body sizes (LME, fixed = sex: body part; random = individual. N = 84, P < 0.001; unpublished data) and need to engage in expensive hovering flight during oviposition, the incentives for females to forage over shorter distances appear consistent with our flight mill and sitedifference results, as well as prior work in butterflies (Ehl et al, 2019b). The pollen load patterns of some plant species are also consistent with females flying shorter distances while foraging: females carry much more Mimosa dysocarpa pollen at BC, where those flowers are abundant, while males carry more M. dysocarpa pollen at SRR where M. dysocarpa is rare (Fig.…”

Agent‐based models reveal limits of mark–release–recapture estimates for the rare butterfly, Bhutanitis thaidina (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

“…The male biased effective sex ratio measured in field observations suggests the effects of both protandry and differential survivorship of butterflies (Calabrese, 2012; Sielezniew et al ., 2020). We did not differentially parameterize male and female behavior in our models as this could result in sex‐based differences in detectability (Pickett et al ., 2012; Ehl et al ., 2019).…”