Butterfly diversity loss in Flanders (north Belgium): Europe's worst case scenario?

We illustrate the strong decrease in the number of butterfly species in Flanders (north Belgium) in the 20th century using data from a national butterfly mapping scheme. Nineteen of the 64 indigenous species went extinct and half of the remaining species are threatened at present. Flanders is shown to be the region with the highest number of extinct butterflies in Europe. More intensive agriculture practices and expansion of house and road building increased the extinction rate more than eightfold in the second half of the 20th century. The number of hot spots decreased considerably and the present-day hot spots are almost exclusively in the northeast of Flanders. Species with low dispersal capacities and species from oligotrophic habitats decreased significantly more than mobile species or species from eutrophic habitats. We discuss these results in a northwest European context and focus on concrete measures to preserve threatened butterfly populations in Flanders.

[1]  J. Thomas.  Rare species conservation: case studies of European butterflies , 1991 .

[2]  S. Petit,et al.  Population spatial structure and migration of three butterfly species within the same habitat network: consequences for conservation. , 2000 .

[3]  Marc Dufrêne,et al.  Geographic Structure and Potential Ecological Factors in Belgium , 1991 .

[4]  Peter Pretscher,et al.  Rote Liste gefährdeter Tiere Deutschlands , 1998 .

[5]  D. Leopold,et al.  Vegetation management for the maintenance and conservation of butterfly habitats in temperate human-dominated landscapes , 1997 .

[6]  C. Swaay.  Measuring changes in butterfly abundance in The Netherlands , 1995 .

[7]  D. Bauwens,et al.  Verspreiding van amfibieën en reptielen in vlaanderen , 1996 .

[8]  M. Warren,et al.  Flight areas of British butterflies: assessing species status and decline , 1999, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[9]  J. Peymen,et al.  Natuurrapport 2005 : toestand van de natuur in vlaanderen : cijfers voor het beleid , 1999 .

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

[11]  J. Lawton,et al.  Rare species, the coincidence of diversity hotspots and conservation strategies , 1993, Nature.

[12]  D. Maes,et al.  Rode lijsten: een onmisbaar instrument in het moderne Vlaamse natuurbehoud , 1995 .

[13]  C. Thomas,et al.  Estimating rates of butterfly decline from distribution maps: The effect of scale , 1995 .

[14]  J. Oostermeijer,et al.  The relationship between butterflies and environmental indicator values: a tool for conservation in a changing landscape , 1998 .

[15]  G. D. Knijf,et al.  Een gedocumenteerde rode lijst van de libellen van Vlaanderen , 1996 .

[16]  D. Simberloff.  Flagships, umbrellas, and keystones: Is single-species management passé in the landscape era? , 1998 .

[17]  Malou M-Louise Haine,et al.  De Wilde V. , 1986 .

[18]  J. Thomas.  Holocene climate changes and warm man‐made refugia may explain why a sixth of British butterflies possess unnatural early‐successional habitats , 1993 .

[19]  Nick M. Haddad,et al.  AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF CORRIDOR EFFECTS ON BUTTERFLY DENSITIES , 1999 .

[20]  Ian F. Spellerberg,et al.  The Scientific Management of Temperate Communities for Conservation. , 1992 .

[21]  D. Maes,et al.  Dagvlinders in vlaanderen: ecologie, verspreiding en behoud , 1999 .

[22]  P. J. Boer,et al.  Changes in the distribution of carabid beetles in The Netherlands since 1880. II. Isolation of habitats and long-term time trends in the occurence of carabid species with different powers of dispersal (Coleoptera, Carabidae)☆ , 1988 .

[23]  A. Erhardt,et al.  9 – Lepidoptera as Indicators of Change in the Semi-natural Grasslands of Lowland and Upland Europe , 1991 .

[24]  D. D. Charleroy,et al.  Atlas van de Vlaamse beek- en riviervissen , 1998 .

[25]  M. Warren.  A review of butterfly conservation in central southern Britain: I. Protection, evaluation and extinction on prime sites , 1993 .

[26]  Sokal Rr,et al.  Biometry: the principles and practice of statistics in biological research 2nd edition. , 1981 .

[27]  E. Pollard,et al.  Monitoring Butterflies for Ecology and Conservation: The British Butterfly Monitoring Scheme , 1994 .

[28]  A. Pullin.  Ecology and Conservation of Butterflies , 1995, Springer Netherlands.

[29]  C. Thomas,et al.  Butterfly Conservation Management , 1995 .

[30]  Matthew J. R. Cowley,et al.  The distribution and decline of a widespread butterfly Lycaena phlaeas in a pastoral landscape , 2000 .

[31]  R. Vane‐Wright,et al.  The Biology of butterflies , 1986 .

[32]  Ruprecht Düll,et al.  Zeigerwerte von Pflanzen in Mitteleuropa , 1992 .

[33]  J. Thomas,et al.  The Ecology and Conservation of Lysandra bellargus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in Britain , 1983 .

[34]  C. Swaay.  An assessment of the changes in butterfly abundance in The Netherlands during the 20th Century , 1990 .

[35]  D. Maes,et al.  Een gedocumenteerde rode lijst van de zandloopkevers en loopkevers van Vlaanderen , 1995 .

[36]  Matthew J. R. Cowley,et al.  Detecting decline in a formerly widespread species: How common is the common blue butterfly Polyommatus icarus? , 1999 .

[37]  J. Prendergast,et al.  Butterfly diversity in southern Britain : hotspot losses since 1930 , 1995 .

[38]  O. Karsholt,et al.  The Lepidoptera of Europe: A Distributional Checklist , 1996 .

[39]  Nick M. Haddad,et al.  CORRIDOR AND DISTANCE EFFECTS ON INTERPATCH MOVEMENTS: A LANDSCAPE EXPERIMENT WITH BUTTERFLIES , 1999 .

[40]  M. Avery,et al.  Assessing national conservation priorities: an improved red list of British butterflies , 1997 .

[41]  J. Thomas,et al.  Patterns, Mechanisms and Rates of Extinction among Invertebrates in the United Kingdom [and Discussion] , 1994 .

[42]  Leren om te keren; milieu- en natuurrapport Vlaanderen , 1996 .

[43]  F. James Rohlf,et al.  Biometry: The Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research , 1969 .

[44]  S. Harrison,et al.  Local extinction in a metapopulation context: an empirical evaluation , 1991 .