The impact of grazing, overgrowth and mowing on spring butterfly (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) assemblages on dry karst meadows and pastures

Karst meadows belonging to the class Festuco-Brometea are regarded as species-rich habitats of national and European importance. Biodiversity in these areas is relatively high, but unlike most other semi-natural habitat types, it is highly influenced and facilitated by human activities. In the present study we document the presence and estimate abundance of butterfly species from three sampling plots in Kraški rob (SW Slovenia): two dry karst meadows and one pasture, which also includes an overgrown area. Over 16-day sampling occasions in May and June 2012, 63 species (including species complexes) were recorded. Nearly all of the species were recorded from dry karst meadows (60 ssp., 95%), while pasture (34 spp., 54%) and the overgrown site (28 spp., 44%) were less diverse. The abundance of butterflies was the lowest on the overgrown area. Although both grazing and overgrowth result in a decline in the number and abundance of species, we believe that traditional land use positively affects butterfly diversity, as it maintains open grasslands, a habitat that is preferred by most butterfly species to the later phases of succession. We therefore recommend the maintenance of a mosaic landscape structure, as it supports a wide range of butterfly fauna.

• Publication year

  2013

• Venue

  Unknown venue

• Publication date

  2013-06-30

• Fields of study

  Biology, Geography, Environmental Science

• Identifiers

  No identifiers available.

• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• NEW DATA ON THE PRESENCE OF THREE SIMILAR SPECIES OF THE GENUS MELITAEA : M . ATHALIA , M . AURELIA AND M . BRITOMARTIS ( LEPIDOPTERA : NYMPHALIDAE ) IN THE NORTH-WESTERN BALKANS

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