Partial recovery of a Skipper Butterfly (Hesperia comma) from Population Refuges: Lessons for Conservation in a Fragmented Landscape

Causes and Extent of Declines among Native North American Invertebrate Pollinators: Detection, Evidence, and Consequences

“…We suspect that anthropogenic activities will be detrimental to some species but beneficial to others, with sometimes subtle and counterintuitive causal linkages (Thomas andJones 1993, Benedek 1996). Obviously, if we have so far been unable to detect broad-scale declines in invertebrate pollinator taxa in North America, then we are even less able to draw conclusions about expected shortfalls in their services as pollinators.…”

The re-expansion and improving status of the silver-spotted skipper butterfly (Hesperia comma) in Britain: a metapopulation success story

“…Eggs are individually laid on the leaf blades of small tufts (1-5 cm tall) of F. ovina, generally situated in a warm hollow and growing adjacent to bare ground (Thomas et al, 1986;Warren et al, 1999). Plants that have been heavily nibbled by grazing animals tend to be avoided by egg-laying adults (Thomas and Jones, 1993;Warren et al, 1999).…”

“…In Britain, H. comma is on the north-western edge of its range and is thermally constrained to suitable habitat located in southern England. The extant refuge colonies remaining in 1982 conformed to a remnant metapopulation structure (Thomas and Jones, 1993) and were located in eight habitat networks: Kent and Surrey in the North Downs, Hampshire and East Sussex in the South Downs, the Chilterns and three in the south-west on the borders of Dorset, Wiltshire and west Hampshire (Barnett and Warren, 1995; Fig. 1).…”

“…Past records from a complete survey of the British distribution carried out in 1982 (Thomas et al, 1986), a re-survey of the North and South Downs during 1991 (Thomas and Jones, 1993;Fig. 2), and records obtained from Butterfly ConservationÕs ''Butterflies for the New Millennium'' (BNM) database Thomas et al, 1986;Asher et al, 2001).…”

“…To promote species re-expansion through the landscape, networks of suitable habitat patches are required in close proximity to existing refuge populations Hanski and Gilpin, 1991;Thomas and Jones, 1993;Wiens, 1997;Hanski and Gilpin, 1997;Harrison and Taylor, 1997;Etienne and Heesterbeek, 2001). This can be achieved by consolidating the management efforts of conservation agencies on protected sites and reserves, and by the management of habitat within the wider countryside (i.e., outside reserves) through government funded agri-environment schemes.…”