Metapopulation persistence of an endangered butterfly in a fragmented landscape

We describe an extensive metapopulation study on the Glanville fritillary Melitaea cinxia, in a network of 1502 discrete habitat patches, comprising the entire distribution of this butterfly species in Finland. A thorough survey of the easily detected larval groups revealed a local population in 536 patches (dry meadows). We demonstrate that this system satisfies the four necessary conditions for a species to persist in a balance between stochastic local extinctions and recolonizations. Patterns of patch occupancy support several qualitative and quantitative model predictions. With decreasing regional density and average area of habitat patches, the butterfly occurs in a diminishing fraction of suitable habitat. To our knowledge, this is the first conclusive demonstration, based on a comparison of many conspecific metapopulations, of declining habitat occupancy and hence of increasing threat to survival caused by increasing habitat fragmentation

[1]  P. Foley,et al.  Predicting Extinction Times from Environmental Stochasticity and Carrying Capacity , 1994 .

[2]  N. Gotelli,et al.  The Distribution and Abundance of Tallgrass Prairie Plants: A Test of the Core-Satellite Hypothesis , 1987, The American Naturalist.

[3]  S. M. Chambers,et al.  Genetics and Conservation. , 1985 .

[4]  James H. Brown,et al.  Turnover Rates in Insular Biogeography: Effect of Immigration on Extinction , 1977 .

[5]  I. Hanski,et al.  Migration, Metapopulation Dynamics and Fugitive Co-existence , 1993 .

[6]  K. Porter.  MULTIVOLTINISM IN APANTELES BIGNELLII AND THE INFLUENCE OF WEATHER ON SYNCHRONISATION WITH ITS HOST EUPHYDRYAS AURINIA , 1983 .

[7]  I. Hanski.  Reply to Nee, Gregory and May , 1991 .

[8]  Ilkka Hanski,et al.  Metapopulation dynamics : empirical and theoretical investigations , 1991 .

[9]  J. Lawton,et al.  Insect Herbivores on Bracken Do Not Support the Core-Satellite Hypothesis , 1989, The American Naturalist.

[10]  Ilkka Hanski,et al.  Single‐species metapopulation dynamics: concepts, models and observations , 1991 .

[11]  C. Thomas,et al.  Spatial dynamics of a patchily distributed butterfly species , 1992 .

[12]  Ilkka Hanski,et al.  An experimental study of migration in the Glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia , 1996 .

[13]  R. May,et al.  Core and satellite species: theory and artefacts , 1991 .

[14]  Peter Kareiva,et al.  Biotic interactions and global change. , 1993 .

[15]  J. Lawton,et al.  Range, population abundance and conservation. , 1993, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[16]  P. Ehrlich,et al.  Conservation Lessons from Long-Term Studies of Checkerspot Butterflies , 1987 .

[17]  Andrew D. Taylor.  Studying metapopulation effects in predator-prey systems , 1991 .

[18]  M. Baguette,et al.  Adult movements between populations in the specialist butterfly Proclossiana eunomia (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) , 1994 .

[19]  Ilkka Hanski,et al.  Metapopulation structure and migration in the butterfly Melitaea cinxia , 1994 .

[20]  I. Hanski.  A Practical Model of Metapopulation Dynamics , 1994 .

[21]  Ilkka Hanski,et al.  Metapopulation dynamics and conservation: A spatially explicit model applied to butterflies , 1994 .

[22]  Mats Gyllenberg,et al.  Two General Metapopulation Models and the Core-Satellite Species Hypothesis , 1993, The American Naturalist.

[23]  J. Thomas,et al.  A quick method for estimating larval populations of Melitaea cinxia L. during surveys , 1982 .

[24]  R. Levins.  Some Demographic and Genetic Consequences of Environmental Heterogeneity for Biological Control , 1969 .

[25]  James H. Brown.  On the Relationship between Abundance and Distribution of Species , 1984, The American Naturalist.

[26]  David H. Wright,et al.  Correlations between incidence and abundance are expected by chance , 1991 .

[27]  James F. Quinn,et al.  Estimating the Effects of Scientific Study on Two Butterfly Populations , 1991, The American Naturalist.

[28]  Ilkka Hanski,et al.  Dynamics of regional distribution: the core and satellite species hypothesis , 1982 .

[29]  Chris D. Thomas,et al.  Partial recovery of a skipper butterfly (Hesperia comma) from population refuges : lessons for conservation in a fragmented landscape , 1993 .

[30]  Peggy L. Fiedler,et al.  Conservation biology : the theory and practice of nature conservation, preservation, and management , 1992 .

[31]  Robert M. May,et al.  Large-Scale Ecology and Conservation Biology. , 1995 .

[32]  Simon R. Leather,et al.  Individuals, populations and patterns in ecology. , 1994 .

[33]  M. Warren.  The UK status and suspected metapopulation structure of a threatened European butterfly, the marsh fritillary Eurodryas aurinia , 1994 .

[34]  R. Dennis.  The Ecology of butterflies in Britain , 1994 .