Modelling habitat persistence and impacts of management on the habitats of an endangered butterfly

Abstract

In dynamic landscapes, effective species conservation requires an understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of species’ habitats. In this study, vegetation data across differently aged sites, site management history data and expert elicitation are used to estimate (i) expected habitat patch lifetimes and (ii) the impacts of habitat management history on how habitat quality changes through time for an early‐successional habitat specialist, the endangered false heath fritillary butterfly (Melitaea diamina). Results demonstrate the accelerated temporal dynamics experienced by false heath fritillary habitats, with the quality of false heath fritillary habitats peaking 2–3 years after management, and a median‐sized habitat patch initially without tree cover predicted to become unsuitable 15 years after management due to overgrowth. As a co‐product of habitat management patterns, habitat succession and land use changes, non‐conserved false heath fritillary habitats had an expected lifetime of 13.1 years. This study demonstrates a method that can be used to estimate habitat network dynamics for an early‐successional habitat specialist economically in situations where the urgency of conservation challenges favours fast decision‐making.

Modeling variability in the fire response of an endangered bird to improve fire‐management

“…, Enright et al. , Fabritius and McBride ). Many species exhibit variability in their post‐disturbance time window of occurrence (Donner et al.…”

“…). Therefore, modeling variation in the time window of occurrence for fire‐dependent species may allow the identification of important habitat areas, in addition to refining the appropriate time since fire at which to burn to regenerate habitat in any given area (Fabritius and McBride ).…”

“…Therefore, to ensure that fire‐management for endangered species is effective, it is important to test any environmental variables that may affect their fire response (Watson et al. , Fabritius and McBride , Theimer et al. ).…”

Metapopulation perspective to institutional fit: maintenance of dynamic habitat networks

“…Because false heath fritillary habitats are seldom occupied by other endangered species of regional interest, they are not the focus of habitat-focused conservation programs. The expected lifetime of an unprotected false heath fritillary habitat has been estimated to be 13.1 years, the quality of the habitat site starting to decrease 2-3 years after site maintenance because of the successional dynamics of the habitats (Fabritius and McBride 2017) and habitats requiring maintenance, e.g., mowing or grazing, at least every 5 years (Intke 2003).…”

“…Based on existing knowledge of habitat succession at false heath fritillary meadows (Intke 2003, Fabritius andMcBride 2017), the tempo of habitat dynamics at false heath fritillary habitats was, however, often faster than this. Consequently, reports of habitat network surveys indicated that large proportions of habitats had already been destroyed in the process of habitat succession by the times of the surveys (Kekkonen and Rönkä 2009).…”