Butterfly community structure in fragmented habitats

Abstract

We analysed effects of habitat fragmentation on the diversity, abundance, and life history traits of butterflies on 33 calcareous grasslands. Diversity of butterflies was positively correlated with habitat area (as was plant diversity), but not with habitat isolation. In contrast to expectations, butterfly densities of polyphagous and oligophagous species declined with habitat area whereas densities of monophagous species increased. The z‐values, i.e. the slope of species–area relationships, increased with food plant specialization, from 0.07 in polyphagous, 0.11 in oligophagous, 0.16 in strongly oligophagous to 0.22 in monophagous species, and were 0.14 in plant species. Significant z‐values were not only found for total species richness, based on a sample size adjusted to fragment area (z = 0.12), but also for the local density of butterfly species richness, based on equal sample size across all habitat fragments (z = 0.06). To our knowledge, this is the first study to show differential responses of monophagous, oligophagous and polyphagous species to area with respect to species richness and population density.