Fourcade, Yoan and Öckinger, Erik
(2017).
Host plant density and patch isolation drive occupancy and abundance at a butterfly's northern range margin.
Ecology and evolution. 7
, 331-345
[Research article]
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Abstract
Marginal populations are usually small, fragmented, and vulnerable to extinction, which makes them particularly interesting from a conservation point of view. They are also the starting point of range shifts that result from climate change, through a process involving colonization of newly suitable sites at the cool margin of species distributions. Hence, understanding the processes that drive demography and distribution at high-latitude populations is essential to forecast the response of species to global changes. We investigated the relative importance of solar irradiance (as a proxy for microclimate), habitat quality, and connectivity on occupancy, abundance, and population stability at the northern range margin of the Oberthur's grizzled skipper butterfly Pyrgus armoricanus. For this purpose, butterfly abundance was surveyed in a habitat network consisting of 50 habitat patches over 12 years. We found that occupancy and abundance (average and variability) were mostly influenced by the density of host plants and the spatial isolation of patches, while solar irradiance and grazing frequency had only an effect on patch occupancy. Knowing that the distribution of host plants extends further north, we hypothesize that the actual variable limiting the northern distribution of P. armoricanus might be its dispersal capacity that prevents it from reaching more northern habitat patches. The persistence of this metapopulation in the face of global changes will thus be fundamentally linked to the maintenance of an efficient network of habitats.
Authors/Creators: | Fourcade, Yoan and Öckinger, Erik | ||||||
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Title: | Host plant density and patch isolation drive occupancy and abundance at a butterfly's northern range margin | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Ecology and evolution | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2017 | ||||||
Volume: | 7 | ||||||
Page range: | 331-345 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 15 | ||||||
Publisher: | Wiley | ||||||
ISSN: | 2045-7758 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Research article | ||||||
Refereed: | Yes | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology | ||||||
Agrovoc terms: | climate change, habitats, Lepidoptera | ||||||
Keywords: | climate change, habitat quality, land-use, metapopulation, microclimate, peripheral populations | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-4472 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-4472 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 14701 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Ecology (S) > Dept. of Ecology | ||||||
External funders: | Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and Swedish Research Council | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 13 Nov 2017 11:29 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 11 Jan 2018 12:22 |
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