Abstract
Land-use change and homogenization of the landscape are severe threats to butterfly diversity. The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to land abandonment on very large scales. This study aims at assessing the impact of the ongoing abandonment of traditionally managed grasslands and subsequent vegetation succession on butterflies in Western Siberia, a species-rich area with butterfly communities similar to those of Central and Eastern European grasslands. 20 mown and 20 abandoned grasslands were surveyed using Distance Sampling methods in summer 2015. We recorded 997 individuals from 44 species, pooled over two sampling events. An indicator species analysis and detrended correspondence analysis revealed that communities likely underwent changes in species composition during succession, and that habitat specialization decreased. In contrast to previous studies we found no evidence of early stages of abandonment being more species-rich than mown meadows. On unmanaged grasslands litter cover and litter depth were significantly higher than on mown grasslands. Half of the abandoned sites were riparian meadows. The dynamics and ecological characteristics of the floodplain had a stronger influence on community composition than land use. This study shows that structural heterogeneity and lepidopteran diversity of the vast, but understudied, Western Siberian grasslands are driven by mechanic and natural disturbance. Conservation should aim at responding to trends of abandonment and actively maintaining a mosaic with grasslands of different successional stages.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Roman Latyntsev for logistical support. This study was carried out as part of the research project SASCHA (‘Sustainable land management and adaptation strategies to climate change for the Western Siberian Grain Belt’) and financial support was provided by the German Government, Federal Ministry of Education and Research within their Sustainable Land Management funding framework.
Funding
This study was funded by the German Government, Federal Ministry of Education and Research within their Sustainable Land Management funding framework (Grant No. 01LL09006F).
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Trappe, J., Kunz, F., Weking, S. et al. Grassland butterfly communities of the Western Siberian forest steppe in the light of post-Soviet land abandonment. J Insect Conserv 21, 813–826 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-017-0021-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-017-0021-0