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Scale-dependent resource use in the Euphydryas aurinia complex

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Abstract

Butterflies of the European Euphydryas aurinia complex include a series of taxa, showing morphological and eco-ethological differences. All of them are threatened by changes in land use affecting both the structural and functional connectivity of habitat patches, as well as habitat quality. In this framework, we analysed the use of resources by two of the three taxa occurring in Italy, E. (a.) glaciegenita (Alpine) and E. (a.) provincialis (Mediterranean), at ‘landscape’, ‘patch’ and ‘microhabitat’ scale. We collected data on spatial distribution of adults by Mark-Release-Recapture to understand which parameters affect adult distributions at landscape scale and to test the degree of adult aggregation at patch scale. We sampled first instar larvae within fixed plots and compared the microhabitat characteristics of occupied vs. unoccupied host plants. We found that both populations were affected by management at landscape scale, with contrasting patterns depending on both sites and sex. The food plants were not a limiting factor for adult distribution, probably because they were abundant in the study areas. Within patches, males of E. (a.) glaciegenita showed aggregate distributions in comparison to those of E. (a.) provincialis, suggesting the existence of a “lek strategy”. At microhabitat scale, we observed that females carefully chose their egg-laying sites according to host plant density and microclimatic cues, even though selection was driven by distinct factors in the two populations. Understanding the ecological requirements of all life stages is essential to develop appropriate conservation strategies to preserve butterflies of the E. aurinia complex in Italy.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the authorities of Gran Paradiso National Park and Protected Areas of the Piedmont Apennines for financial and logistic support and for having strongly encouraged this work. The work was carried out with the authorization (prot. 0039115/PNM, 20/06/2013) by the Italian Ministry of the Environment MATTM and within the project “A multi-taxa approach to study the impact of climate change on the biodiversity of Italian ecosystems” of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). Authors are also very grateful to Eleonora Rossi, Giulia Marangoni and Alessandro Girodo for their fundamental help in the fieldwork.

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  1. Ghidotti Silvia and Cerrato Cristiana have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gran Paradiso National Park, Turin, Italy

    Silvia Ghidotti, Cristiana Cerrato, Emanuel Rocchia & Ramona Viterbi

  2. DISAT, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Silvia Ghidotti & Luciano Bani

  3. DBIOS, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Luca Pietro Casacci, Francesca Barbero, Elisa Plazio, Emilio Balletto & Simona Bonelli

  4. Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    Luca Pietro Casacci

  5. DISTAV, Department of Earth, Environmental and Life Sciences, Genoa University, Genoa, Italy

    Matteo Paveto & Manuela Pesce

  6. Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

    Elisa Plazio

  7. Protected Areas of the Piedmont Apennines, Alessandria, Italy

    Gabriele Panizza

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  1. Silvia Ghidotti
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Correspondence to Luca Pietro Casacci.

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Ghidotti, S., Cerrato, C., Casacci, L.P. et al. Scale-dependent resource use in the Euphydryas aurinia complex. J Insect Conserv 22, 593–605 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-018-0088-2

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