Microhabitat preferences of Maculinea teleius (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in a mosaic landscape

Abstract

Abstract. The Scarce Large Blue (Maculinea teleius) is an endangered butterfly throughout Europe due to its special life-cycle and habitat loss. Our aims were to describe the microhabitats available to this butterfly, to test what factors influence the presence and density of M. teleius adults and to investigate the relationship between host ant species and M. teleius. The vicinities of eight fens were sampled, where there are four types of microhabitats available for this butterfly: Narrowleaf Cattail (Typha angustifolia), Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), Marsh Woundwort (Stachys palustris) and Purple Moorgrass (Molinia coerulea) dominated vegetation. In five transects (50 × 5 m) around each fen (running from the edge of the fen into the meadows) the number of imagos was counted twice a day during the flight period. Along the transects, the following parameters were measured or assessed: number of flowerheads of foodplant (Sanguisorba officinalis), microhabitat type, grazing intensity, soil humidity, vegetation height and host ant presence. The four microhabitat types differed significantly in soil humidity, vegetation height, foodplant density and distance from a fen. Generally the Typha microhabitat, situated closest to fens, had the highest soil humidity and vegetation height, followed by the Lythrum, Stachys and finally the Molinia microhabitat along a gradient decreasing soil humidity and vegetation height. The foodplant was most abundant in the Lythrum and Stachys microhabitats. Using linear mixed models and forward stepwise manual selection we found that microhabitat type was the most important factor determining the presence of M. teleius. The local grazing intensity had no direct effect but flowerheads of the foodplant had a positive effect on the abundance of butterflies. The number of butterflies was significantly higher in quadrats where the host ant (Myrmica scabrinodis) was present compared to those where they were absent. Our results suggest that grazing should be continued in order to maintain the current distribution of microhabitats and survival of the butterflies.

Effects of timing and frequency of mowing on the threatened scarce large blue butterfly – A fine-scale experiment

“…In most meadows the initial number of host plant flowerheads was very low in the "September plots", which means that increase of flowerhead abundance affected butterflies most positively at low initial host plant abundance. These results are in agreement with previous findings, namely that at low density of S. officinalis, density of P. teleius is positively correlated with it (Batáry et al, 2007;Dierks and Fischer, 2009), while above a threshold host plant density does not correlate with butterfly density (Nowicki et al, 2007). Although, higher butterfly index does not obviously reflect to higher carrying capacity, it can rather be a result of that adult butterflies stay for longer in certain patch types (e.g.…”

Different flight behaviour of the endangered scarce large blue butterfly Phengaris teleius (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) within and outside its habitat patches

“…However, a sampling design of that nature was unattainable for practical reasons, since, despite extensive efforts in the field, it proved impossible to find other release points with comparable resource densities and boundary shape within our study area. The behaviour of the P. teleius, including movements, is highly dependent on two critical resources; the larval foodplant S. officinalis and the Myrmica host ants (Maes et al 2004;Batáry et al 2007Batáry et al , 2009Wynhoff et al 2008;Van Langevelde and Wynhoff 2009). To make it possible to take into account the strong effect of a resource availability which is highly variable, several dozen replicates per boundary type would be needed.…”

Dos and Don’ts for butterflies of the Habitats Directive of the European Union

“…(Batáry et al 2009;Batáry et al 2007;Dierks and Fischer 2009;Drechsler et al 2007;Ernst 1999;Geissler-Strobel 1999;Grill et al 2008;Johst et al 2006;Lhonoré 1997;Novak et al 2007;Nowicki et al 2007;Nowicki et al 2005;Settele et al 2005b;Stettmer et al 2001a;Stettmer et al 2008;Thomas 1984;Timus et al 2011;Witek et al 2010;Witek et al 2008;Wynhoff 1998;Wynhoff et al 2008;Wynhoff et al 2011) Phengaris nausithous (Bergsträsser, 1779)…”