Butterflies and diurnal moths along road verges: Does road type affect diversity and abundance?

Saarinen, Kimmo; Valtonen, Anu; Jantunen, Juha; Saarnio, Sanna

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2004.12.012

Cited by 141 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…High nectar abundance turns out to be the most important factor in increasing the numbers of meadow butterflies along track verges (Saarinen et al 2005). Consequently, we proved that artificial habitats have potential value if they have rich plant species communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Track verges should be mown with mowing schemes that are adapted to butterfly requirements. A single stretch of tracks and tracks verges should be mown every 2-3 years in order to increase the abundance of flowering plants, to prevent succession and to provide shelter sites with taller vegetation, as has been suggested (see Saarinen et al 2005;Berg et al 2013). Track verges of good quality, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Track verges of good quality, i.e. located on sun-warmed embankments rich in flowering plants, should be kept as wide as possible since the wide verges are inhabited by a greater number of butterflies than narrow ones are (Saarinen et al 2005). The sowing of plant species is also a recommended conservation action for the improved conservation value of railway tracks for butterflies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Railway tracks can have great value for butterflies as a new alternative habitat

Kalarus

Bakowski

2015

Italian Journal of Zoology

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Natural and semi-natural habitats are declining. However, little is known of the value of artificial and human-altered habitats for biodiversity maintenance in fragmented landscapes. We hypothesized that railway tracks can have great value for butterflies as an alternative habitat. Using 200-m-long transects, we investigated species richness and two main types of β-diversity, i.e. nestedness and community dispersion, for both butterflies and their nectar plants in eight sites under an expected gradient of habitat quality -meadows, railway tracks, forest clearings and degraded meadows. Railway tracks and meadows had higher butterfly species richness than forest clearings and degraded meadow. Butterfly species distribution among sites was strongly related to the gradient of habitat quality that was measured as nectar plant composition. Railway tracks contained the widest pool of butterflies with species of various biotopes as well as a wide pool of nectar plants at a nested subset pattern of β-diversity. However, the pattern of community dispersion was opposite to what had been expected. Meadows and railway tracks, being more heterogeneous sites in terms of composition of nectar plants, supported slightly more homogeneous butterfly communities. This suggests that habitats of low quality, i.e. forest clearings and degraded meadows, have less-stable butterfly communities. We concluded that railway tracks located on sun-warmed embankments containing a reach pool of nectar plants could enable multi-species communities to persist in an environment of good suitability. Conservation managers should therefore focus on enhancing the quality of railway tracks and their vicinity through the preservation of a high abundance of various flowering plants.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Railway tracks can have great value for butterflies as a new alternative habitat

Kalarus

Bakowski

2015

Italian Journal of Zoology

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“…The sun-exposed grasslands or large trees in roadsides create refuge for many vascular plants and invertebrates that are otherwise in decline due to drastic changes in land use (Eversham and Telfer 1994, Persson 1995, Thomas et al 2002, Saarinen et al 2005, Hopwood 2008, Lennartsson 2010. Similarly, railroad switchyards and embankments provide dry, open land often with a diverse flora and invertebrate fauna (Stenmark 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abundance of red-listed species in infrastructure habitats – ”responsibility species” as a priority-setting tool for transportation agencies´ conservation action

Helldin¹,

Wissman²,

Lennartsson³

2015

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Road and railroad verges may contribute to nature conservation by providing habitat for many species, but due to limited resources, there is a need to select the most important road and railroad stretches for adapted management. We explore the responsibility species concept as a tool for the Swedish Transport Administration to make this selection. We propose lists of candidate responsibility species based on relative abundance of conservation priority species in the vicinity of roads and railroads, respectively. Abundance data were derived from crowd-sourced species observations. Species with ≥20% of observations in infrastructure habitats were included as candidate responsibility species. For roads 32 species were included in the list, for railroads seven species, with an overlap of three species between the lists. We analyzed habitat and management requirements of the listed species to try identifying functional groups. Most of the species require open or semi-open habitats, mainly dry grassland or heathland on sandy or limy soil, un-sprayed crop fields, or solitary trees. Host plants or substrates include broom (genus Genista), patches of bare soil, and sun exposed wood. Conservation actions prescribed for the species include, e.g., late or irregular mowing, removal of the field layer, planting of host species, protecting and providing particular substrates, and special protection of certain sites. We argue that road and railroad managers are particularly well suited to conduct most of these actions. We consider the responsibility species concept to be a useful tool for transportation agencies to set priorities for adapted verge management, and the current method to be effective in identifying a first list of candidate species. We discuss the possibility of also identifying responsibility habitats or general management measures based on the results.

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“…(1) They may provide a suitable habitat for plants and small animals, especially invertebrates (Eversham & Telfer, 1994;Major et al, 1999;Raemakers et al, 2001;Spellenberg, 2002;Saarinen et al, 2005). It has been shown that in intensive agricultural or urban landscapes they may be more important to biodiversity than the hinterland (Keals & Majer, 1991;De Bonte et al, 1997;Forman & Alexander, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) in roadside verges with grey hair-grass vegetation

Noordijk¹,

Schaffers²,

Sýkora³

2008

Eur. J. Entomol.

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Abstract. Roadside verges in densely populated areas are often a significant addition to the total semi-natural area and as such may contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. Furthermore, they can enhance the ecological cohesion of a region, especially when the existing nature reserves are small and/or highly fragmented. We investigated the occurrence of ground beetles and spiders in six highway verges with grey hair-grass vegetation in the Veluwe region, The Netherlands. Total species number in the verges was similar to the values found in nearby nature reserves with comparable vegetation, but the ground beetles tended to be more abundant in the reserves. Many stenotopic species were present in the verges, confirming the significant conservation value of this habitat. However, compared with the nature reserves, there were fewer species of stenotopic ground beetles and the stenotopic spiders were less abundant in the verges. From our knowledge of the biology and ecology of the species captured it seems likely that this is attributable to differences in "habitat quality". In the verges, species preferring bare sand are scarcer, and the weighted mean body length of ground beetles is shorter than in nature reserves. This suggests that the sward in the road verges is too dense and the suitable vegetation too patchy to sustain some of the stenotopic species. Habitat analyses support this contention: Compared with the nature reserves, the verges had proportionally less bare sand, more herb and tree cover and the vegetation patches were smaller. The strategy suggested to promote stenotopic species entails removing encroaching trees and shrubs from the verges in order to expand the nutrient-poor zone and (re-)create pioneer conditions. Subsequent management should aim at further improving the road verges as extensions of nutrient-poor habitat.

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Butterflies and diurnal moths along road verges: Does road type affect diversity and abundance?

Cited by 141 publications

References 22 publications

Railway tracks can have great value for butterflies as a new alternative habitat

Railway tracks can have great value for butterflies as a new alternative habitat

Abundance of red-listed species in infrastructure habitats – ”responsibility species” as a priority-setting tool for transportation agencies´ conservation action

Diversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) in roadside verges with grey hair-grass vegetation

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