Pupation Sites and Conservation of Frosted Elfins (Lycaenidae) in maryland, USA

Selfridge, Jennifer A.; Bachran, Karsin; McElveen, Dave; Robbins, Robert K.; Ransom, Tami S.

doi:10.18473/lepi.73i2.a3

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…McCullough et al (2019) reported densities of the prairie specialist Speyeria idalia increased with litter cover. Callophrys irus , a rare fire‐dependent butterfly in the Eastern United States, pupates in litter above the soil 92% of the time (Selfridge et al, 2019). In our findings as well as the examples above, positive associations with litter cover occur in grassy habitats, as opposed to woody habitats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire regime shapes butterfly communities through changes in nectar resources in an Australian tropical savanna

Leone,

Larson,

Richards

et al. 2023

Ecosphere

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Fire‐dependent savanna provides key habitat for butterflies globally, but we know little about how fire regimes, including fire frequency and season, affect them. These impacts are likely to be primarily indirect, through changes in overall habitat structure, the abundance of larval host plants, and/or the provision of nectar resources for adults. We examined the relationships among fire regime, butterfly abundance and diversity, and vegetation structure and floral resources within a long‐term fire experiment near Darwin in the Australian monsoon tropics. We surveyed butterflies and floral resources throughout the 2019–2020 wet season in three replicate plots of each of six experimental treatments that had been operating for 15 years. All plots subject to fire had been burned in the previous dry season. We observed 24 butterfly species and 280 individuals representing all five butterfly families found in Northern Australia. Butterfly abundance was highest under early dry‐season (June) fire regimes (mean = 11.9 individuals per plot survey) compared with a late dry‐season (October) regime (mean = 6.7) and in the long‐term absence of fire (mean = 5.3), and this was correlated with the abundance of floral resources. The distribution of butterflies was also highly associated with floral resources within plots regardless of fire treatment. Butterfly species richness was significantly higher in early dry‐season (mean = 6.8) compared with unburned (mean = 3.3) plots but did not differ between early and late dry‐season (mean = 4.7) plots. Butterfly and floral diversity were similar across all early dry‐season fire treatments regardless of whether they had been burned every 1, 2, 3, or 5 years. Our finding that early dry‐season burning promotes butterfly diversity and abundance by increasing the supply of nectar resources has important implications for biodiversity management more broadly, given that nectar is a critical resource for many animal taxa.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire regime shapes butterfly communities through changes in nectar resources in an Australian tropical savanna

Leone,

Larson,

Richards

et al. 2023

Ecosphere

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“…This pattern is consistent with an expectation of greater direct mortality for eggs and caterpillars, which are on vegetation, than for pupae, which can rest on or under the soil surface. Frosted elfins usually pupate in the leaf litter, and less frequently (up to 25% of the time) bury themselves in the soil to depths of up to 3 cm (Schweitzer et al, 2011; Thom et al, 2015; McElveen & Craig, 2017; Selfridge et al, 2019). Evidence from the confamilial species, Eumaeus atala , suggests that butterfly pupae may survive fires when buried at depths greater than or equal to 1.5 cm (Thom et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This period will be referred to as “non‐ or not spring” in this paper. Most elfins pupate at the soil surface or in the leaf litter but occasionally below the soil (Schweitzer et al, 2011; Selfridge et al, 2019; Thom et al, 2015). Provided these pupae are buried deeply enough, they may be less susceptible to fire (Thom et al, 2015) than the aboveground eggs and caterpillars, which are present during the spring.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of frequency and season of fire on a metapopulation of an imperiled butterfly in a longleaf pine forest

Jue

Merwin

Jue

et al. 2022

Conservat Sci and Prac

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Maintaining fire-dependent habitat for species of conservation concern often requires a balancing act between the short-term costs of direct mortality caused by fires and the long-term benefits of ensuring high-quality habitat. To reduce risk to threatened populations, land managers may need to adjust the frequency with which they burn sites and, likely, mitigate the short-term costs of prescribed fires by not burning during a species' life stages that may be especially sensitive to fires. Few, if any, studies have investigated burn regimes for butterflies in longleaf pine forests-a once dominant habitat in the southeast United States-despite a long history and frequent usage of prescribed burns in these ecosystems. We surveyed a recently discovered metapopulation of frosted elfin (Callophrys irus) butterflies residing in longleaf pine forest over seven years at sites across nine management units with differing fire return intervals and fire seasonalities. We observed dramatic population declines after burns, with no adults observed at some sites in subsequent years. Our analyses demonstrate that populations may need at least three to 4 years to recover, and that burns in the spring, when frosted elfin eggs and larvae are found on hostplants, should be avoided if possible. In fact, our model suggests that the largest spring-burned sites have fewer than 20% of the adult elfins the year following a fire than do sites burned in other seasons. Land managers seeking to conserve frosted elfins and other butterflies with similar life histories may need to burn at times of the year that reduce direct mortality and with fire return intervals that are longer than the one-to two-year intervals recommended by some for maximizing the diversity of the herbaceous understory in longleaf pine forests.

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“…The frosted elfin pupates primarily in leaf litter, either at the soil surface or below the soil surface (McElveen & Craig, 2017; Selfridge et al, 2019; Thom et al, 2015). Of 56 pupation locations reported in the literature or observed by the authors, 45 (80.36%) were in the leaf litter or at the soil surface, where they are potentially most vulnerable to the direct effects of fire (Table 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pupae survival following fire in the frosted elfin (Callophrys irus)

Meyer

Pokswinski

Ney

et al. 2023

Agri and Forest Entomology

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1. The frosted elfin (Callophrys irus) butterfly inhabits landscapes that may be subject to frequent fire to be sustained. Frosted elfins pupate primarily in leaf litter, at the soil surface, or just below it, and may suffer high mortality rates when fires occur.Gathering better information on this source of mortality is critical to planning prescribed fire operations in a manner conducive to the long-term survival of the species.2. We buried lab-reared frosted elfin pupae (n = 61) at 0.75 cm (n = 31) or 1.75 cm (n = 30) below the ground and conducted two experimental fires that mimicked typical prescribed fires.3. Eighteen of 30 (60%) buried at 1.75 cm survived 4 weeks postburn; no pupae buried at 0.75 cm survived. Most (n = 17) of the pupae that survived successfully enclosed the following year. Surviving pupae encountered lower maximum temperatures and were exposed to shorter durations of above-lethal temperatures compared to those that died. 4. Our data demonstrate that high mortality rates can be expected due to fire, yet fire remains a critical tool for maintaining the habitat. Fire practitioners should mitigate losses by using ignition patterns and suboptimal burn conditions to reduce fire intensity, or burn in a mosaic pattern across the landscape to ensure enough survival to perpetuate frosted elfin populations.

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Pupation Sites and Conservation of Frosted Elfins (Lycaenidae) in maryland, USA

Cited by 6 publications

References 4 publications

Fire regime shapes butterfly communities through changes in nectar resources in an Australian tropical savanna

Fire regime shapes butterfly communities through changes in nectar resources in an Australian tropical savanna

Effects of frequency and season of fire on a metapopulation of an imperiled butterfly in a longleaf pine forest

Pupae survival following fire in the frosted elfin (Callophrys irus)

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