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Butterfly diversity along the urbanization gradient in a densely-built Mediterranean city: Land cover is more decisive than resources in structuring communities

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Abstract

Urbanization induces rapid landscape and habitat modifications leading to alterations in species distribution patterns and biodiversity loss. As pollinating insects such as butterflies are particularly susceptible to urbanization, it is important to pinpoint the factors that could enhance their diversity in the urban areas in order to design adequate management and conservation actions. Our study aims to investigate the influence of land cover and local habitat characteristics on the butterfly diversity patterns and community structure in a densely built city in the eastern Mediterranean region. We carried out butterfly surveys (line transects) in 45 randomly selected sites, distributed along an urbanization gradient. In each site, we assessed the surrounding landscape by measuring the land cover in a 200-m buffer zone, and the local habitat by estimating the available plant resources along each transect. Overall, 1805 individuals belonging to 41 butterfly species were recorded. Land cover was found to have the strongest influence on butterfly species richness, abundance and community structure. Although plant resources were sufficiently available within the whole study area, the butterfly community was significantly poorer in the more urbanized areas, indicating the potential role of habitat fragmentation and patch isolation. In contrast, butterfly diversity was significantly higher in the peri-urban area, underlying its conservation value for butterflies in the urban landscape. We attribute these findings to the degradation of the more urbanized areas due to long-term inadequate planning and the disorganized expansion of the city.

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... Nonetheless, there was a significant change in butterfly community composition between urban and rural habitats (Figure 7a), as found in several other locations (Numa et al., 2016;Stefanescu et al., 2004;Tzortzakaki et al., 2019). For example, Freyer's grayling (H. ...
... For example, a study in Patras city, Greece, showed that specialist butterfly species with specific feeding requirements were often absent from urban environments, whereas generalists exhibited a greater abundance in urban areas (Tzortzakaki et al., 2019). Habitat fragmentation and reduced connectivity due to urbanisation may lead to a decline in specialist species within these areas (Brückmann et al., 2010;Kuussaari et al., 2021), however, the geranium bronze (C. ...
... alceae) were more abundant in urban areas on Lipsi, despite being specialists. Geranium bronze is highly associated with cultivated geranium plants (Pelargonium) found in gardens and parks, whilst the mallow skipper caterpillar feeds on mallow plants (Malvaceae) which are weeds found in urban waste ground, roadsides and gardens (Tzortzakaki et al., 2019). Therefore, the presence of cultivated plants within urban locations could mitigate the loss of natural vegetation and support certain specialist species (Chong et al., 2014), whilst generalist or opportunistic butterflies may be able to exploit the resources found in both urban and rural locations (Pignataro et al., 2020). ...
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Urbanisation has reduced the abundance and diversity of many taxonomic groups, and the effects may be more pronounced on islands, which have a smaller regional species pool to compensate. Green spaces within urban environments may help to safeguard wildlife assemblages, and the associated habitat heterogeneity can even increase species diversity. Here, total abundance and species diversity of butterflies, birds, and vegetation at nine rural and nine urban locations were quantified on Lipsi Island, Greece. Sites were assessed using Pollard walks for butterflies, point‐count surveys for birds, and quadrats for vegetation. There was no significant difference in the abundance or species diversity of butterflies or vegetation among rural and urban locations, which could pertain to the low building density within urbanised areas and the minimal extent of urbanisation on the island. However, urban areas hosted a significantly greater abundance, richness, and diversity of birds compared to rural sites. The community composition of butterflies, birds, and vegetation also differed significantly between urban and rural locations, highlighting the impact of urbanisation on species across a broad range of trophic groups. This study contributes to ecological knowledge on the impacts of urbanisation across multiple trophic levels in island ecosystems, with comparisons across a gradient of island size and urbanisation intensity needed in future research.
... On the first visit to each site, the percentage cover of shrubs and bare ground were recorded using the same quadrats for percentage cover of plants, and the percentage cover of trees was later recorded using Google Maps. Plant surveys were conducted following Tzortzakaki et al. (2019), with four 0.5 m 2 quadrats established at even distances along the butterfly transects. The small quadrat size was due to the limited spatial extent of the sites. ...
... The low building density and development of ecological corridors on Lipsi may also increase movement between urban and rural areas (Hennig and Ghazoul., 2011). Nonetheless, there was a significant change in butterfly community composition between urban and rural habitats (Figure 5a), as found in several other locations (Numa et al., 2016, Stefanescu et al., 2004, Tzortzakaki et al., 2019. Butterfly species respond differently to the environmental constraints encountered along an urbanisation gradient due to variation in tolerance levels associated with life history and distribution (Pignataro et al., 2020). ...
... Butterfly species respond differently to the environmental constraints encountered along an urbanisation gradient due to variation in tolerance levels associated with life history and distribution (Pignataro et al., 2020). For example, a study in Patras city, Greece, showed that specialist butterfly species with specific feeding requirements were often absent from urban environments, whereas generalists exhibited a greater abundance in urban areas (Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). Habitat fragmentation and reduced connectivity due to urbanisation may lead to a decline in specialist species within these areas (Kuussaari et al., 2021;Brückmann et al., 2010), however, the Geranium Bronze (Cacyreus marshalli ) and Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus alceae ) were more abundant in urban areas on Lipsi, despite being specialists. ...
Preprint
Urbanisation has reduced the abundance and diversity of many taxonomic groups, and the effects may be more pronounced on islands, which have a smaller regional species pool to compensate. Green spaces within urban environments may help to safeguard wildlife assemblages, and the associated habitat heterogeneity can even increase species diversity. Here, total abundance and species diversity of butterflies, birds, and vegetation at nine rural and nine urban locations were quantified on Lipsi Island, Greece. Sites were assessed using Pollard walks for butterflies, point-count surveys for birds, and quadrats for vegetation. There was no significant difference in the abundance or species diversity of butterflies or vegetation among rural and urban locations, which could pertain to the low building density within urbanised areas and the minimal extent of urbanisation on the island. However, urban areas hosted a significantly greater abundance and richness of birds compared to rural sites. The community composition of butterflies, birds, and vegetation also differed significantly between urban and rural locations, highlighting the impact of urbanisation on species across a broad range of trophic groups. This study contributes to ecological knowledge on the impacts of urbanisation across multiple trophic levels in island ecosystems, with comparisons across a gradient of island size and urbanisation intensity needed in future research.
... Butterflies are considered good indicators of changes associated with urbanization gradients and are frequently studied in cities all over the world (Blair & Launer, 1997;Thomas, 2005;Bergerot, Fontaine, Julliard, & Baguette, 2011;Konvicka & Kadlec, 2011;Dallimer et al, 2012;Koren, Zadravec, Ńtih, & Hlavati, 2013;Matsumoto, 2015;Ramírez-Restrepo & Macgregor-Fors, 2017;Rochat et al, 2017;Sobczyk, Pabis, Wieczorek, & Salamacha, 2017;Luppi, Dondina, Orioli, & Bani, 2018;Lang et al, 2019;Tzortzakaki, Kati, Panitsa, Tzanatos, & Giokas, 2019). At the same time our current knowledge on the butterfly fauna of larger cities on the Balkan Peninsula is poor. ...
... Pseudophilotes vicrama was given the status uncommon in Vugrovec and such a status could be also applied to this species in Podgorica. In 2019 a study of butterfly fauna of Patras (coastal Greece) was also carried out (Tzortzakaki et al, 2019). Patras is located in about 500 km distance from Podgorica. ...
... The list of species observed in this city gives a good reference for comparison with the butterfly fauna of Podgorica, especially since both studies were carried out at a similar time of the year, from April to June (2015-Patras, 2017. Forty one species of butterflies were noted in Patras (Tzortzakaki et al, 2019), including 29 species common for both cities (Table 5). A comparison of the butterfly fauna of Zagreb, Patras and Podgorica demonstrates that there is a group of species that are most probably typical for various urban areas on the Balkan Peninsula. ...
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The work shows the results of research on butterfly species richness, which took place in Podgorica (Montenegro) between April and June of 2017. The material was gathered on 14 sites located within the city borders. Observations confirmed the presence of 48 species of butterflies representing 5 families: Hesperidae (5 species), Papilionidae (3 species), Pieridae (9 species), Lycaenidae (13 species) and Nymphalidae (18 species). The most common species were Iphilcides podalirius, Papilio machaon, Colias croceus, Coenonympha pamphilus, Polyommatus icarus and Aricia agestis. Results are discussed on a background of two species lists from other urban areas of Balkan Penisula (Zagreb and Patras) as well as a diversity of the butterfly fauna of Montenegro. It is the first analysis of the butterfly fauna of Podgorica city.
... Also, different species respond differently to urbanisation [19]. Generalist species, which have a wider range of larva diets, are less affected by urbanisation than specialists [10,11,20,21]. Nevertheless, some specialist species become urban adapters, for example, two Eumaeus species are following and utilising ornamental cycads to reproduce in urban areas [22]. ...
... Butterfly diversity has been claimed to have no significant relationship with landscape features [31][32][33]. Conversely, some studies have found that land cover at the landscape scale was more influential than resources at the local scale in butterfly species distribution [9,11,21]. Researchers have focused on whether butterfly diversity in urban parks is driven by land cover. Answering this question requires further analysis of local park features and surrounding landscape characteristics, and their interaction effects on butterfly diversity and species composition. ...
... For landscape variables, green space at multi-spatial scales had little influence on butterfly richness and abundance in the urban parks of Beijing. In contrast, some studies [21,50] concluded that land cover is more important than resources for butterfly community structure in urban areas, and the impact of adult and larvae food resources on the butterfly community was lower than that of artificial cover. Tzortzakaki et al. [21] focused on butterfly diversity in all urban landuse types, and determined that a buffer with a 200-meter radius drives butterfly diversity at all landscape scales in the urban environment. ...
Article
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Background and Objectives: As urbanisation is a significant global trend, there is a profound need for biodiversity protection in urban ecosystems. Moreover, the potential of urban green space to support urban biodiversity should be appreciated. Butterflies are environmental indicators that are sensitive to urbanisation. Therefore, it is important to identify butterfly distribution patterns and the factors influencing butterfly diversity and species composition in urban parks within cities. Research Highlights: To our knowledge, ours is the first study evaluating the effects of both land cover and local habitat features on butterfly species composition in urban parks of Beijing, China. Materials and Methods: In this study, we surveyed butterfly richness and abundance in 28 urban parks in Beijing, China. The parks differed in age and location in the urban area. Meanwhile, we investigated the green space in the surroundings of the parks at multi-spatial scales at the landscape level. We also investigated local park characteristics including the age of the park (Age), perimeter/area ratio of the park (SQPRA), area of the park (ha) (Area), green space cover within the park (Greenp), nectar plant species richness (Necpl), abundance of flowering nectar plants (Necabu) and overall plant species richness (Pl). Generalised linear models (GLMs) and redundancy discriminant analysis (RDA) were applied to relate butterfly diversity and butterfly species composition to environmental variables, respectively. Results: We recorded 3617 individuals belonging to 26 species from July to September in 2019. Parks on the city fringe had significantly higher butterfly diversity. Butterfly species richness was mostly related to total plant richness. The abundance of flowering nectar plants was closely linked to butterfly abundance. Land cover had little impact on butterfly diversity and community structure in urban parks. Conclusions: Once a park has sufficient plants and nectar resources, it becomes a useful haven for urban butterflies, regardless of the surrounding land cover. Well-planned urban parks focused on local habitat quality support butterfly conservation.
... Therefore, even inserted into a highly modified landscape, urban forest fragments can play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity, especially in highly diverse groups such as the butterflies . Moreover, the conservation of these forest fragments contributes to social, aesthetic, psychological, and educational issues (Dearborn and Kark 2010;Rosenzweig et al. 2010;Shanahan et al. 2015;Cox et al. 2018; van den Bosch and Meyer-Lindenberg 2019), in addition to playing a fundamental role on ecological services (Soga and Koike 2012;Aronson et al. 2014;Russo and Ancillotto 2015;Ives et al. 2016;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). ...
... public areas have wide foot trails and allow unrestricted entry of people, private areas must have few foot trails and access is regulated by the owner), thus raising important questions about their interference in biodiversity patterns found in urban ecosystems (Moreno et al. 2007). Studies on highly diverse groups, such as the butterflies, have shown that the size and habitat quality in forest fragments are determinant into shaping the structure of butterfly communities (Öckinger et al. 2009;Ramírez-Restrepo et al. 2007;Soga and Koike 2012;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019) and its diversity tends to decrease towards a gradient of urbanization (Blair and Launer 1997;Clark et al. 2007;Lizée et al. 2012;Matteson and Langellotto 2010;Pérez et al. 2019;Ramírez-Restrepo et al. 2007;Soga et al. 2015;Soga and Koike 2013;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). Therefore, if protection class influences butterfly assemblage structure, fragments within a single class would tend to have more similar values of alpha and beta diversity than any comparison of fragments of different classes.However, despite the large amount of research carried out in urban landscapes, there is a lack of knowledge about how butterflies respond to urbanization in cities adjacent to biodiversity hotspots . ...
... public areas have wide foot trails and allow unrestricted entry of people, private areas must have few foot trails and access is regulated by the owner), thus raising important questions about their interference in biodiversity patterns found in urban ecosystems (Moreno et al. 2007). Studies on highly diverse groups, such as the butterflies, have shown that the size and habitat quality in forest fragments are determinant into shaping the structure of butterfly communities (Öckinger et al. 2009;Ramírez-Restrepo et al. 2007;Soga and Koike 2012;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019) and its diversity tends to decrease towards a gradient of urbanization (Blair and Launer 1997;Clark et al. 2007;Lizée et al. 2012;Matteson and Langellotto 2010;Pérez et al. 2019;Ramírez-Restrepo et al. 2007;Soga et al. 2015;Soga and Koike 2013;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). Therefore, if protection class influences butterfly assemblage structure, fragments within a single class would tend to have more similar values of alpha and beta diversity than any comparison of fragments of different classes.However, despite the large amount of research carried out in urban landscapes, there is a lack of knowledge about how butterflies respond to urbanization in cities adjacent to biodiversity hotspots . ...
Article
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Urbanization is a major cause of biodiversity loss and disconnection between people and nature. For this reason, the creation and maintenance of green areas as part of the urban landscape is a common practice in cities around the world. These green areas are generally a result of particular public policies regarding how these areas can be accessed, maintained, and how they are connected to other natural fragments in the city. In an effort to investigate aspects of the ecology of such green areas of the city of Curitiba, southern Brazil, the present study measured distinct parameters of the structure of butterfly assemblages from 19 forest fragments of distinct classes of protection, testing the influence of different policies (protection category) on butterfly assemblages. Comparatively, we also tested the predictive power of landscape variables (at distinct scales) and fragment quality (e.g. diameter at breast height, density of vegetation) using Generalized Linear Models (GLMs). Overall, 14,596 individuals belonging to 412 butterfly species were recorded, but values of species diversity and composition are very heterogeneous, indicating that the protection categories do not significantly interfere with the structure of the butterfly assemblages. More important than the protection category is the forest fragment quality and landscape connectivity. Our models showed that degraded fragments tend to present a specific butterfly composition, whereas the more urbanized landscape have poor butterfly species richness. These results reinforce the importance of implementing public policies that prioritize the conservation of the quality of forest fragments in every class of protection, as well as the conservation of forest fragments throughout the urban landscape.
... Although many studies have demonstrated that species richness tends to decline with increasing urbanization, the responses differ between taxonomic groups as well as between species within taxonomic groups (McKinney 2008;Aronson et al. 2014;Ives et al. 2016;Piano et al. 2020). Some groups and species are better in coping with urbanization and increasing human density than others (McKinney 2008;Jones and Leather 2012; see also Tzortzakaki et al. 2019 for positive species responses to urbanization). For example, a high diversity of pollinating insects such as bees has Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-020-01055-6) ...
... The proportion of built-up area is technically easy to measure based on any available land cover data using Geographical Information Systems (McDonnell and Hahs 2008), and perhaps because of that, it has been a more popular urbanization measure in butterfly studies than human population density (e.g. Melliger et al. 2017;Merckx and van Dyck 2019;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). A weakness of built-up area as an indicator is that any specific land cover classes included in the total built-up area as well as their detailed definitions often vary between studies (McDonnell and Hahs 2008), which complicates a direct comparison of results on the effects of built-up area between studies (Moll et al. 2019;Padilla and Sutherland 2019). ...
... Most previous butterfly studies on the effects of urbanization have focused on species richness and community composition (e.g. Olivier et al. 2016;Melliger et al. 2017;Merckx and Van Dyck 2019;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019), but only rarely on species-specific responses (Hardy and Dennis 1999;Konvicka and Kadlec 2011;Leston and Koper 2017). In our study, the large number of 167 sampled butterfly transects of sufficient length (roughly 1 km) enabled also species-specific analyses on the effects of the two urbanization measures. ...
Article
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Good knowledge on how increasing urbanization affects biodiversity is essential in order to preserve biodiversity in urban green spaces. We examined how urban development affects species richness and total abundance of butterflies as well as the occurrence and abundance of individual species within the Helsinki metropolitan area in Northern Europe. Repeated butterfly counts in 167 separate 1-km-long transects within Helsinki covered the entire urbanization gradient, quantified by human population density and the proportion of built-up area (within a 50-m buffer surrounding each butterfly transect). We found consistently negative effects of both human population density and built-up area on all studied butterfly variables, though butterflies responded markedly more negatively to increasing human population density than to built-up area. Responses in butterfly species richness and total abundance showed higher variability in relation to proportion of built-up area than to human density, especially in areas of high human density. Increasing human density negatively affected both the abundance and the occurrence of 47% of the 19 most abundant species, whereas, for the proportion of built-up area, the corresponding percentages were 32% and 32%, respectively. Species with high habitat specificity and low mobility showed higher sensitivity to urbanization (especially high human population density) than habitat generalists and mobile species that dominated the urban butterfly communities. Our results suggest that human population density provides a better indicator of urbanization effects on butterflies compared to the proportion of built-up area. The generality of this finding should be verified in other contexts and taxonomic groups.
... Variations in insect diversity and abundance in cities are often linearly structured along a main gradient of urbanization (Bennett and Gratton 2012;Bombin and Reed 2016;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). On the one hand, mineral and impervious surfaces such as buildings, roads and other paved areas (e.g. ...
... parking lots) lack both food resource and shelter, and appear to be inhospitable for organisms. As a response, insect diversity generally increases from the town centre toward peri-urban areas (Geslin et al. 2016;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019;Fenoglio et al. 2021). On the other hand, parks, garden, hedgerows and grass strips may offer interesting features for insects feeding and reproducing (Beninde et al. 2015;Hall et al. 2017;Theodorou et al. 2020). ...
Article
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Urban environments are vulnerable to the introduction of non-native species and sometimes contribute to their invasion success. Knowing how urban landscape features affect the population dynamics of exotic species is therefore essential to understand and manage these species. The spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, is a highly polyphagous fruit fly that has become a very problematic invasive species over the last decade. Because of its important damage on fruit production, D. suzukii populations have mainly been studied in agricultural areas, while their dynamics in urban landscape remain poorly explored. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of urban environment in the invasion success of D. suzukii by identifying local and landscape factors driving the abundance of the fly along seasons and urbanization gradients. To achieve this, 526 insect traps were randomly set in four different habitats (urban forest, park, riverside and town centre) along an urbanization gradient in the city of Amiens (France), between September 2018 and August 2019. The influence of landscape and local environmental variables on Drosophilidae species diversity and composition was examined using GLM and multivariate analyses. We found that Drosophilidae species richness and abundance were negatively impacted by urbanization. The Drosophilidae community was dominated by D. subobscura and D. suzukii, but their relative abundance varied with seasons. Drosophila suzukii used urban forest during winter and also during heat waves in summer. The fly was still active in this habitat in winter when the ground was covered with snow. The cover of brambles, shrubs, soil litter and dead wood debris were identified as valuable ecological indicators of the presence of D. suzukii. We highlight the role of the different components of urban environment in the ecology of D. suzukii, particularly with regard to its winter survival. These results could serve for designing management strategies in urban habitats in order to reduce the invasion success of D. suzukii. Graphical Abstract
... Insects are considered as most affected groups by urbanization, which leads to a significant reduction in population in urban areas (Forister et al., 2010;Kuussaari et al., 2021;Menéndez et al., 2007) [6,17,18] . Habitat destruction and urbanization are the biggest threats to the survival of insects (Kuussaari et al., 2021;Tzortzakaki et al., 2019) [17,33] . The diversity of butterfly species is directly affected by the rapid growth in human populations' worldwide, intense use of fertilizers and pesticides, rapidly growing industries, nitrogen emissions from industrial sources as well as habitat destruction. ...
... Insects are considered as most affected groups by urbanization, which leads to a significant reduction in population in urban areas (Forister et al., 2010;Kuussaari et al., 2021;Menéndez et al., 2007) [6,17,18] . Habitat destruction and urbanization are the biggest threats to the survival of insects (Kuussaari et al., 2021;Tzortzakaki et al., 2019) [17,33] . The diversity of butterfly species is directly affected by the rapid growth in human populations' worldwide, intense use of fertilizers and pesticides, rapidly growing industries, nitrogen emissions from industrial sources as well as habitat destruction. ...
Article
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Butterflies are one of the most diverse sensitive groups of insects, key indicators of the health of an ecosystem, and play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning. Urbanization is one of the principal causes of the degradation of natural ecosystems and habitat fragmentation responsible for the decline in species diversity to a huge extent. Butterflies are considered the most affected group by urbanization, which leads to a significant reduction in population in urban areas. Butterfly populations should be monitored and updated periodically to document species diversity and distribution patterns in a specific area, which could provide insight into the present statuses of the recorded species that may facilitate further research for their conservation. The present study was undertaken to explore the diversity, and seasonal variation of butterflies available in the urban area of Golaghat district aiming to document the number of butterflies along with their conservation status. In this study, a total of 127 species, 1233 individuals, representing six families (Papilionidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae, Riodinidae, Nymphalidae, and Hesperiidae) and 88 genera were recorded from the study area. Family-wise distribution of butterfly diversity in the study area showed dominance of Nymphalidae which accounted for maximum species richness. To our knowledge, it is the first attempt to record the urban butterfly diversity of Golaghat district.
... We found the lowest abundance of urban butterflies with only eight species, illustrating the adverse impact of urbanization on species richness even when the overall number of butterfly species did not respond significantly to urbanization. Similar to the findings of Olga Tzortzakaki (2019) [65] on the richness and number of butterfly species, dense Mediterranean cities with peri-urban areas outperform two other areas with higher construction densities. ...
... Future research into the impact of butterfly distribution at the patch scale may offer a theoretical direction for the development of green space in urban parks. Additionally, several studies have demonstrated that land cover [65], impermeable surfaces [87], and building density [88,89] might all have an influence on urban butterflies. Studies of correlation with these variables can offer empirical evidence for creating a healthy urban habitat environment. ...
Article
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Simple Summary Urban biodiversity conservation is currently a prominent issue in society. Butterflies serve as excellent environmental indicator species, and enhancing butterfly diversity can significantly enhance the quality of urban habitats. To contribute to this field, we conducted an analysis of butterfly diversity in various urban gradients. Our research incorporated Shannon diversity analysis, β-diversity analysis, familial diversity analysis, and indicator species analysis. We identified the characteristics and patterns of butterfly diversity distribution and aimed to provide useful insights for urban builders. Abstract Butterflies are key indicators of urban biodiversity and one of the most vulnerable organism groups to environmental changes. Studying how butterflies are distributed and what factors might influence them in urban green spaces is crucial. In this study, from July 2022 to September 2022, we examined and analyzed the butterfly diversity in nine parks in Fuzhou, China, along three different levels of urbanization (urban, peri-urban, and suburban). We investigated how butterfly communities respond to increasing urbanization. The findings revealed that: (1) A total of 427 butterfly individuals from 4 families and 13 species were observed; (2) Shannon diversity, richness, and abundance of the overall butterfly community were lower in the more urbanized parks. Urbanization had significant effects on Shannon diversity (p = 0.003) and abundance (p = 0.007) but no significant effects on the whole butterfly community richness (p = 0.241); (3) non-metric multidimensional scaling revealed that there were differences in the overall number of butterfly species in urban parks among different geographic regions.
... potentially suitable patches) are usually small, isolated and greatly affected by the surrounding the built-up matrix (e.g. Verbeylen et al. 2003;Lizée et al. 2011b;Braaker et al. 2014;Melliger et al. 2017) and its surface area and composition (e.g. Bates et al. 2014;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). Most research on urban homogenisation has linked environmental variables present in urban landscapes directly to community diversity and composition, or to species richness and abundance, without separating the specific effects of urban variables on the diversity of species traits (Ramírez-Restrepo and MacGregor-Fors 2017;Parris 2018). ...
... Therefore, it is the combination of the barrier effect of the urban matrix and garden isolation (i.e. connectivity), together with the vegetation characteristics, that seems to not only shape butterfly richness-as previously observed (Lizée et al. 2016;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019)-but also the community composition of species based on their traits. ...
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Context: Urbanisation is an environmental filter for many species that leads to community homogenisa-tion, with a few species inhabiting isolated patches (e.g. public and private gardens and parks) embedded within the urban landscape. Promoting biodiversity in urban areas requires understanding which species traits allow species to survive the urban landscape. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess how species traits and landscape factors combine to allow species functional groups to live in the city. Methods: We used butterfly count data collected by volunteers in 24 gardens of Barcelona city, during 2018 and 2019. Species were clustered in functional groups according to their traits. We applied a multi-nomial choice model to test for the effect of the landscape on the different functional groups. Results: Three functional groups became prevalent in the city while a fourth, containing most sedentary specialist species, was filtered out. Although the observed groups had similar species richness, abundances varied depending on urban landscape characteristics. Specialist sedentary specialists and medium mobile species were all favoured by patch connectivity; while the presence of mobile generalist species was only enhanced by habitat quality. Our results indicate that butterfly communities are more diverse in highly connected gardens. Conclusions: Our study highlights the need of contextualised management with actions accounting for the species functional groups, rather than a management focused on general species richness. It demonstrates that urban landscape planning must focus on improving connectivity inside the city in order to diversify the community composition.
... Urban-to-rural gradient studies typically identify three main levels of urbanization: urban, suburban, rural. However, there is no consensus about how landscapes along the gradient should be classified into these (or other) categories Clergeau et al. 2006;Magura et al. 2008;Iannella et al. 2016;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). As the percentage of impervious surface (i.e., the cover of soils with impervious materials such as concrete, metal, glass, tarmac, and plastic) is the most obvious feature that influences ecosystem functioning and biodiversity patterns in cities (McKinney 2002;Strohbach et al. 2019;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019), we adopted this measure to quantify the level of urbanization in the study area. ...
... However, there is no consensus about how landscapes along the gradient should be classified into these (or other) categories Clergeau et al. 2006;Magura et al. 2008;Iannella et al. 2016;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). As the percentage of impervious surface (i.e., the cover of soils with impervious materials such as concrete, metal, glass, tarmac, and plastic) is the most obvious feature that influences ecosystem functioning and biodiversity patterns in cities (McKinney 2002;Strohbach et al. 2019;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019), we adopted this measure to quantify the level of urbanization in the study area. ...
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The species-area relationship (SAR) is one of the most investigated patterns in ecology and conservation biology, yet there is no study testing how different levels of urbanization influence its shape. Here we tested the impact of urbanization on avian SARs along a rural-urban gradient using the breeding birds of Rome (Central Italy). We divided the city into 360 cells of 1 km². Each cell was classified as rural, suburban or urban using the proportion of impervious surface calculated from remote sensing data. For each of these three landscape categories, we constructed a SAR as a species accumulation curve (Gleason function) using bird species distribution data. SAR intercepts (i.e. the number of species per unit area) decreased from rural to urban areas, which indicates that urbanization depressed the number of species, reflecting the loss of specialized species strictly associated with natural habitats. The slope was highest for the rural curve, indicating that natural landscapes have the highest turnover due to their higher habitat heterogeneity. A higher slope for the urban cells, compared to the suburban ones, can be explained by the presence of green spaces embedded in the built-up matrix which host different avian communities. Previous studies that compared whole cities with natural areas failed to find differences in the respective SARs. Our study, which constructed SARs for different levels of urbanization, indicated significant changes in the SARs along the rural-urban gradient. Further analyses in other cities and taxa will be useful to test how general are our findings.
... Undersøgelser fandt, at der generelt var en gradient fra byens periferi og ind mod centrum. I en svensk undersøgelse fandt Haaland (2017) 278 280 observere en gradient i artsrigdom gående fra åbent landskab, forstaeder og til by. By og forstaeder havde lavere diversitet af sommerfugle. ...
... I de tilfaelde, hvor der igangsaettes plejetiltag, er det derfor nødvendigt at begraense det til dele af arealet, så forskellige vilkår fremmes, og insekterne ikke rammes af den omtalte spredningsbegraensning. 162,166,294 . Det er endelig vist, at diversiteten af insekter falder fra periferien af byen og ind mod midten [278][279][280] . Det indikerer, at grønne korridorer kunne vaere en fordel for insekterne. ...
Technical Report
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Vi har i denne rapport undersøgt baggrunden for at insekter er gået tilbage. Tilbagegangen er tydeligst for sommerfugle, bier og løbebiller. Det er gennemgående, at arter, der enten har en begrænset spredningsevne, er specialister, er tilknyttet næringsfattige habitater eller lever i områder med lav landskabsdiversitet, alle går tilbage. Analyser af rødlistedata understøtter de tendenser, som er beskrevet i litteraturen, men tilføjer nogle flere insektordener til rækken af truede insektgrupper. Det er blandt andet ordner, som indeholder insektfamilier, der ikke er specialister eller spredningsbegrænsede, men som er afhængige af ressourcer, som ikke længere er så almindelige som tidligere (blomster, dødt ved, ådsler, møg, og specifikke planter). Hertil kommer, at der er nogle arter, som kræver specielle fysiske forhold. De omfatter vandløbsarter og arter, der er tilknyttet tørre, solrige og næringsfattige habitater. Rapporten gennemgår, hvilke forhold, der er af betydning for, om et insekt trives. På baggrund disse levevilkår, diskuteres de eksterne faktorer, der kan påvirke insekterne. Påvirkningsfaktorerne omfatter således: Habitatødelæggelse og fragmentering, forurening (sprøjtemidler, organisk stof, kvælstof/fosfor, veterinære lægemidler og lysforurening), invasive arter, klimaforandringer og forvaltning af levesteder. På den baggrund anbefales en række overordnede tiltag, der kan forbedre vilkårene for arter, der er truede og i tilbagegang.
... For the survival and reproduction of both larvae and adults, herbs play important role and also provide them shelter. On the basis of availability of plant resources and habitat quality butterflies are largely dependent on that [28] . The proper management of agroecosystem also helps in the conservation of butterflies and other species present in biodiversity [3] . ...
... In general, urban biodiversity is composed of a group of species with a spectrum of adaptation capabilities to urbanization factors. Communities in urban spaces tend toward lower diversity and abundances with higher dominance, as well as a high proportion of generalists over specialists and a high number of invasive and colonizing species (Tzortzakaki et al., 2019;Orduña-Villaseñor et al., 2023). Understanding the isolated factors and mechanisms underlying the relations of biodiversity and urbanization, as well as their combined effect in the distinct taxa and conditions, constitutes a remarkable challenge (Fenoglio et al., 2021;Theodorou, 2022). ...
Article
Animals in urban forests provide ecological and cultural services, but the quality of these services often depends on floral diversity and animal diversity. In turn, animal diversity in urban forests is influenced by various aspects of habitat quality, in spatial scale- and taxon-dependent ways. Understanding the effect of individual habitat factors on different animal groups can provide valuable information for urban forest management. We estimated the relationships of 25 environmental, vegetation, land cover and anthropogenic perturbation variables to the fauna of Chapultepec Forest within Mexico City, Mexico. We included flower-visiting flies (Diptera: Bombyliidae, Syrphidae), bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea), butterflies Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea), birds, and reptiles (Squamata and Testudines). Insect populations were more strongly affected by herb and flower variables, while variables related to trees and shrubs were more important to vertebrate taxa. In general, human density, buildings cover and pavement cover were the most relevant anthropogenic perturbation factors. Birds and butterflies were more tolerant of urbanization than the other groups. Effects for each taxon are discussed. Our results suggest that urban park management plans should focus on enhancing habitat heterogeneity and vegetation structure complexity. Specifically, maintaining herb and tree diversity would likely promote animal diversity and ecosystem services in the Chapultepec Forest.
... For example, establishing a viable butterfly population may largely depend on the extent of habitat connectivity and/or prevailing environmental conditions across landscapes, making butterflies especially vulnerable to habitat fragmentation and/or extreme environmental disturbance (Bennett, 1999) in urban areas. Moreover, although butterfly communities are expected to be influenced by expanding environmental disturbances, which are most common in urban landscapes (Fenoglio et al., 2020;Kurylo et al., 2020;Mata et al., 2014;Tzortzakaki et al., 2019), slight changes in urban landscape management, such as improving habitat connectivity, have been suggested to increase butterfly richness, diversity and abundance in these systems (Diamond et al., 2023;Dylewski et al., 2019;Iserhard et al., 2019;Mata et al., 2014;Nagase et al., 2019). Thus, the increase in species richness, diversity and abundance may be more common among frugivorous butterflies in tropical systems that generally use multiple host plants as food sources (Nobre et al., 2012). ...
Article
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The specific factors that influence spatial community or population dynamics are often elusive, and even less known is the impact of tropical urban landscapes on diverse species community assemblages. To address this knowledge gap, we used a survey data set with 510 fruit‐feeding butterflies comprising 20 species across two heterogeneous habitats within a city in Nigeria. Next, we constructed generalised linear mixed models to understand the differential responses of the butterfly community to changes in environmental conditions across habitats. Butterfly species community assemblages significantly differed between the two urban habitats, with butterfly species significantly higher in the savannah woodland compared with the gallery forest due to the optimal daily temperatures of the savannah woodland. However, butterfly richness was lower in the gallery forest due to extreme environmental conditions. This study highlights that butterfly community changes in tropical urban landscapes are possibly responding to local microclimates and spatial heterogeneity across habitats. For evidence‐based conservation management of tropical butterfly biodiversity, there would be need for a long‐term, extensive and systematic insect monitoring programme for butterflies across disturbed and undisturbed fragmented habitats harbouring diverse insect species.
... Kupu-kupu adalah serangga kosmopolit, bisa ditemukan hampir di semua tipe habitat, dengan syarat tersedianya tumbuhan inang dan pakan, serta tumbuhan untuk tempat berlindung bagi kelangsungan hidup dan reproduksi kupu-kupu dewasa maupun larva (Tzortzakaki et al., 2019). ...
Article
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Kupu-kupu merupakan serangga yang sangat bergantung pada kualitas habitat dan ketersediaan tumbuhan. Potensi Ngesrepbalong sebagai habitat kupu-kupu dengan lokasinya yang terasosiasi dengan berbagai aktivitas masyarakat, pembangunan infrastruktur, pembukaan lahan, serta aktivitas wisata berpengaruh terhadap kelimpahan kupu-kupu di alam. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membandingkan struktur komunitas, keragaman tumbuhan inang, serta status konservasi kupu-kupu di berbagai tipe habitat di Desa Ngesrepbalong Kecamatan Limbangan Kabupaten Kendal. Metode yang digunakan yaitu metode transek. Hasil pengamatan didapatkan total kupu-kupu di seluruh habitat berjumlah 252 individu dari 79 spesies. Kelimpahan relatif tertinggi terdapat pada habitat curug dengan spesies paling dominan yaitu Lethe confusa dan Ypthima pandocus. Keanekaragaman spesies kupu-kupu termasuk dalam kategori rendah untuk habitat kebun teh (H’ = 3.14), dan kategori tinggi untuk habitat curug, kebun campuran, dan hutan sekunder (H’ = 3.59; 3.69; 3.53). Kemerataan spesies di tiap habitat tergolong tinggi (E = 0.79 – 0.93). Kesamaan komunitas tertinggi terdapat pada habitat curug dan hutan sekunder. Terdapat satu spesies kupu-kupu yang memiliki status konservasi rentan (Vulnerable) yaitu Euploea mulciber. Lainnya tercatat 8 spesies berisiko rendah (Least concern) dan 70 spesies belum dievaluasi (Not evaluated). Terdapat satu spesies yang dilindungi dalam Permen LHK No P.106 Tahun 2018 dan termasuk kategori Apendiks II dalam CITES yaitu Troides Helena.
... Global environmental change is exerting significant pressure on species survival, with rapid urbanization emerging as one of the primary contributors to the decline in urban biodiversity [1]. This is in addition to habitat fragmentation and the degradation of natural ecosystems caused by urbanization, which also alters urban population densities, build-up densities, climate cycles, land-use patterns, and plant composition, directly or indirectly triggering a decline in urban biodiversity [2][3][4][5]. However, urbanization is a process that radiates from urban centers to the peripheries. ...
Article
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Simple Summary In the era of expanding and enhancing urbanization, the conservation of urban biodiversity has gradually become a research hotspot. As an excellent indicator species reflecting the quality of the ecological environment, butterflies can be used to monitor and improve the quality of habitats. We explored the effects of urbanization on the α-diversity, β-diversity, and functional diversity of butterflies and analyzed the indicative species of different ecological gradients. This examination was aimed at understanding the effects of urbanization on the taxonomic diversity and functional similarity of butterflies and proposing scientific suggestions and strategies to improve the ecological quality of urban environments. Abstract Urbanization has been shown to cause biodiversity loss. However, its effects on butterfly taxonomic and functional diversity still need to be studied, especially in urban waterfront green spaces where mechanisms of impact still need to be explored. We used butterflies as indicators to study how urbanization affects their taxonomic and functional diversity and identify indicator species in different urban ecological gradient areas. From July to September 2022, we surveyed 10 urban waterfront green spaces in Fuzhou City, China. We recorded 1163 butterflies of 28 species from 6 families. First, we explored the effects of urbanization on butterfly communities and made pairwise comparisons of different urban ecological gradients (α-diversity); secondly, we looked for differences between butterfly communities across urban ecological gradients (β-diversity); finally, we investigated differences in the response of butterfly functional groups to different urban ecological gradient areas and identified ecological indicative species. This study found the following: (1) Urbanization has led to the simplification of butterfly community structure, but there are also favorable factors that support the survival of individual butterflies; (2) Urbanization has led to significant differences in butterfly communities and plant-feeding polyphagous butterfly groups; (3) Urbanization has led to differences in the functional diversity of butterfly diet and activity space groups; (4) We identified five eco-indicator species in different urban ecological gradients.
... In similar manner, butterfly abundance approaches zero when the coverage of impervious surface in the landscape approaches 100% in Melbourne, Australia (Kurylo et al. 2020). Several studies have reported a decline in lepidopteran abundance or biomass with an increase of impervious surfaces (Melliger et al. 2017;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019;Merckx and Van Dyck 2019;Kuussaari et al. 2021). Our study and that of Kurylo et al. (2020) agree with the earlier findings and further indicate that a landscape without vegetation, e.g., in a highly urbanized city centers, is unsuitable habitat for most lepidopteran species. ...
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Urbanization displaces natural habitats with impervious surfaces and managed ornamental green infrastructure. This study compared the structure of lepidopteran community in an office campus cleared from forest to that in the remaining forest. For the comparison, we trapped 2,233 lepidopteran specimens of 56 species from an office campus and adjacent forest. The species richness of lepidopteran assemblage in the office campus was half of that in the forest and consisted primarily of the same species found in the forest. The abundance and biomass of Lepidoptera in the office campus was a quarter of that in the forest. The biomass and abundance of Lepidoptera decreased along with the impervious area within 100-meter radius around the traps and approached zero when impervious surfaces covered the area entirely. The specimens in the trapped lepidopteran assembly from the office campus were on average larger, indicating elevated mobility, than those caught from the forest. Our results support earlier studies concluding that fragmented urban landscape selects for large mobile species, which can feed on ornamental plants or can disperse between high-quality habitats within urban landscape. Green infrastructure with native plants, high-quality native habitats and their connectivity can maintain species-rich lepidopteran communities in urban landscapes.
... Within each zone (campus and non-campus), we used 50 m radius point counts to quantify all birds seen or heard in 5 min as recommended by Bibby et al. (2000) and following the methodology of several other urban studies (e.g., Melles et al., 2003;Tzortzakaki et al., 2019;Ibáñez-Álamo et al., 2020). This method has proven sufficient to provide species presence, relative abundance, population tendency and use of habitat (Wunderle, 1994). ...
... Thus, species that are found in abundance in the city have good or very good dispersal abilities (Wood and Pullin 2002). This is why it was previously accepted that species communities were closely structured along the gradient of urbanisation (Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). However, the quality of trophic resources present in the urban matrix can vary along the urban gradient and thus be counteract the negative effects of urbanisation. ...
Article
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We used a 12-year survey of butterflies in 24 parks in Marseille (South-East France), to highlight the overall decline of butterfly biodiversity (richness, abundance, diversity) in this Mediterranean city. This study confirms the importance of the urban gradient in the composition and structure of butterfly communities with a clear difference between the city centre and the outskirts. The study also highlights the preponderant role of local factors. While the distance from the natural environment remains a major factor, nectar resources and habitat diversity are local factors that can positively drive biodiversity. In contrast, management, as currently practised, has a negative effect on biodiversity. This implies that management, nectar resources and habitat diversity in parks are the key action levers at local scale. Thus, our results show that the response is not linear, from the most urban to the least urban, but seems to be closer to a patch/mosaic structure according to the importance of local factors. The long-term survey shows that butterfly communities show a simplified pattern: generally, parks on the outskirts tend to resemble those of the intermediate level and parks of the intermediate level tend to resemble those of the city centre. The long-term survey shows that butterfly communities have lost in complexity with the loss of Mediterranean species probably linked to the disappearance of their host plants. Finally, this long-term study suggests that it is possible to influence biodiversity through management with direct action in the management of green spaces.
... Surprisingly, over 150 h of recordings we did not observe any butterflies; this is probably because butterflies are among the most susceptible group of insects and show rapid response to environmental changes, including urbanization (Kitahara and Fujii, 1994;Tzortzakaki et al., 2019). The lack of butterflies in urbanised areas could be attributed to the lack of large, not fragmented green patches (Beninde et al., 2015), the lack of suitable habitats (Snep et al., 2006), or the scanty cover of natural and semi-natural vegetation (Chong et al., 2014). ...
... Survey data was registered in the eBMS (European Butterfly Monitoring Scheme) 1 database. Each point count was sampled thrice, at the beginning (April), middle (May), and late spring season (June; Tzortzakaki et al., 2019;Paul and Sultana, 2020). According to Kõrösi et al. (2022) three samplings are enough to obtain sufficient data of the spring butterfly biodiversity. ...
Article
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Human population growth is causing an expansion of urban areas, a phenomenon known to deeply impact on the Earth’s biodiversity. Therefore, it is key to understand how to conceal urban development with biodiversity conservation. In this context, university campuses can play an important role as they usually present a large array of different environments and green areas, crucial aspects for promoting urban biodiversity as well as human-nature interactions. Several studies have analyzed the biodiversity of university campuses, however, there are still important taxonomic (e.g., insects) and geographical biases (e.g., Mediterranean hotspot) in our current understanding of these urban areas. Insects are fundamental in many ecosystems as pollinators, prey, pest controllers or decomposers among others. This further increases the need to study this group in the urban context. In this study, we have investigated diurnal Lepidoptera and ground-dwelling Coleoptera in three university campuses and three non-campus areas of the city of Granada (Spain). We used spatial and temporal replicates for each area in order to explore whether university campuses hold higher levels of insect biodiversity (e.g., species richness or common species) than other nearby urban areas. In addition, we investigated the potential influence of several additional predictors on insect diversity such as type of land cover, vegetation origin, management intensity, and distance to the outskirts. Our results suggest that Lepidoptera species and Coleoptera families are more diverse in university campuses than in other urban areas, showing also a positive association with the proportion of bare soil and herbaceous cover. Furthermore, they also seem to be benefited from low vegetation management intensity whereas Coleoptera are favored by native vegetation providing clear management recommendations in order to promote such animal groups in cities. Our study indicates that university campuses are important urban areas to preserve insect biodiversity but also highlights the heterogeneity of response among insect groups.
... As expected, based on previous findings, butterfly diversity was negatively affected by the degree of urbanisation 20,28,90,91 . Compared to wild bees that responded to the degree of urbanisation at large spatial scales (500 m and 1000 m), butterfly activity and diversity responded to the degree of urbanisation at a very small scale (100 m). ...
Article
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Insect-provided pollination services are increasingly threatened due to alarming declines in insect pollinator populations. One of the main threats to insect pollinators and consequently pollination is urbanisation. Here, we investigate the effects of local habitat quality (patch size, flowering plant richness, bare soil cover, vegetation structure), degree of urbanisation (impervious surfaces) and 3D connectivity on bee, hoverfly and butterfly flower visitors and plant-flower visitor networks in flower-rich urban dry grasslands. Overall, the degree of urbanisation and the quality of the local habitat influenced the flowering plant and pollinator communities. Although flowering plant abundance increased with urbanisation, bee species richness and butterfly species richness decreased with increasing impervious surfaces. Flowering plant richness and ground nesting resource availability were positively related to bee richness and local vegetation structure boosted hoverfly and butterfly visitation rates. In terms of plant–pollinator interactions, insect pollinators visited a lower proportion of the available flowering plants in more urbanised areas and network modularity and specialisation increased with patch size. Our findings show that urban dry grasslands are valuable habitats for species-rich pollinator communities and further highlight the importance of minimizing the intensity of urbanisation and the potential of local management practices to support insect biodiversity in cities.
... The strength of an urbanization indicator is that it can be defined by the number of people in a specific location, given accurate register data with an acceptable spatial resolution (Luck 2007). Spatial-temporal studies of urbanization frequently use the proportion of the BUA rather than human population density since it is simpler to estimate using Geographic Information Systems (McDonnell and Hahs, 2008;Melliger et al., 2017;Tzortzakaki et al., 2019). But, to a more significant degree than other demographic factors, population density is the primary factor determining sprawl measurements (Xu et al., 2007;Sudhira et al., 2004;). ...
Article
The impacts of uncontrolled development may be catastrophic in areas experiencing fast population expansion and climatic variability, so the South Bengal Region, adjacent to Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), is facing similar threats. It is essential to monitor such Land use and land cover changes (LULC) in a rapidly urbanizing country like India for long-term and efficient resource management. Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were used in this study to examine LULC dynamics in the South 24 Parganas district of the South Bengal Region during the past 30 years (1991-2021). Indices for urban sprawl monitoring, including patch size, density and growth, were determined statistically to analyze the urban typologies. It has also derived decadal growth rate and expansion efficiency metrics to assess the rate of changing peri-urban scenarios along the South 24 Parganas district. This research helps evaluate the quantitative aspects of urban expansion observed in eco-sensitive and cyclone-prone regions in the context of developing nations. It also helps to design guidelines based on the issues resulting from unsustainable urban sprawl. This study's findings depict substantial growth in population and built-up densities of immediate peri-urban areas to the core city by 70% at the expense of green and blue spaces.
... Surprisingly, over 150 h of recordings we did not observe any butterflies; this is probably because butterflies are among the most susceptible group of insects and show rapid response to environmental changes, including urbanization (Kitahara and Fujii, 1994;Tzortzakaki et al., 2019). The lack of butterflies in urbanised areas could be attributed to the lack of large, not fragmented green patches (Beninde et al., 2015), the lack of suitable habitats (Snep et al., 2006), or the scanty cover of natural and semi-natural vegetation (Chong et al., 2014). ...
... Studies on drivers of butterfly diversity and wildlife-friendly policies in urban ecosystems have focused on landscape and local scales (Han et al. 2021b;Kurylo et al. 2020;Lizee et al. 2016;Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). Scale is crucial for planning conservation strategies (Clark et al. 2007), and several studies have illustrated the relative importance of habitat quality at individual sites as opposed to site location within the conurbation (Lizee et al. 2016;Peter J. and Donald J. 1997;Angold et al. 2006). ...
Article
Urban parks comprise diverse microhabitats, such as vegetation units of lawn and arbour forests, with differing biodiversity potentials. However, the influences of microhabitats on butterfly diversity and the mechanisms involved remain unclear. This study used butterfly survey data from 112 plots in 27 urban parks in the central metropolitan area of Beijing, China, from June to September 2020. Based on the growth form of larval host plants, recorded butterfly species were classified into three functional groups: woody plant-feeding taxa (WF), herb-feeding taxa (HF), and feeding on multiple plant growth forms taxa (MF). We analysed the effects of 11 variables among three facets, namely, vegetation composition, vegetation structure, and human activity, on the butterfly diversity (species richness and abundance) of the whole community, three functional groups using generalised linear mixed models. Twenty-five butterfly species observed mainly feed on herbs rather than on woody plants. Our results demonstrated that vegetation community characteristics explain up to 24% and 43% variation in butterfly species richness and abundance, respectively. Of this, vegetation structure facets crucially affected butterfly species richness, and vegetation composition facets had the most significant influence on the abundance of the whole butterfly community. However, the impact of human activity factors was minimal. Light availability and herb height belonging to vegetation structure factors and nectar plant species richness and nectar abundance which belonged to vegetation composition factors showed the most important and positive effects on butterfly diversity. The positive impact of the above significant factors was found especially on herb-feeding butterfly diversity. In contrast, the diversity of butterflies feeding on woody plants was most positively influenced by herb height. We thus suggest that it is necessary to guarantee the presence of a well-developed herb layer, which provides abundant nectar sources and maintain specific open spaces to ensure light availability. In conclusion, our findings imply that the critical role of the spatial structure of vegetation community is conspicuous in the formation of suitable microhabitats for butterflies, and managers could combine vegetation management practices with the needs of specific functional groups.
... Unfortunately, the data from the databases do not allow an assessment of whether the species observed within the city borders form stable urban populations, or whether there is a continuous exchange with populations in the surrounding regions. Understanding the assembly of species communities within urban borders remains an important task for urban ecology (Tzortzakaki et al. 2019). ...
Article
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Cities have been shown to be biodiverse, but it is unclear what fraction of a regional species pool can live within city borders and how this differs between taxa. Among animals, most research has focused on a few well-studied taxa, such as birds or butterflies. For other species, progress is limited by the paucity of data. We used species occurrence data for 11 taxa and 23 German cities from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the different German states, in a 50-km buffer around the city centre, to investigate what proportion of species of the regional species pools also occur in cities. While data could be obtained for all cities from GBIF, state databases only provided data for a subset of cities. Sample coverage of data from GBIF was higher across all taxa than of the state databases. For each database and taxon, we analysed (i) all cities where the number of occurrences of a taxon was >50 and (ii) only those cities where additionally sample coverage was >0.85. Across all taxa studied on average, 44.9 ± 7.2% (GBIF) and 40.8 ± 9.6% (German states) of the species of the regional species pool were also found in cities. When all cities were considered together, more than 76% of all species occurred within city borders. Our results show that German cities harbour a large part of the regional diversity of different taxa when city borders rather than the city centre is considered. This opens up ample opportunities for conservation and for fostering human–nature relationships.
... As a result, suburban areas can have a remarkable diversity of insect herbivores (Owen and Owen 1975;Raupp, Shrewsbury, and Herms 2010), in turn driving increased numbers of natural enemies. As we reach peri-urban areas, a wide range of suitable habitats and less fragmented areas predominate, with increasing numbers of species such as butterflies (Tzortzakaki et al. 2019), before we move into heavily altered agricultural land, where insect diversity can decline. ...
Article
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Urbanization can change interactions in insect communities, and the few studies of tritrophic interactions in urban settings focus on interactions between plants, herbivorous insects and their mutualists and natural enemies. Plant pathogen infection is also widespread and common, and infection may also alter such interactions, but we have no understanding of whether the ecological consequences of pathogen infection vary with urbanization. Using replicated aphid colonies on experimental plants, we investigated how infection by the plant pathogen Botrytis cinerea influences interactions between plants, aphids and the aphid natural enemies and ant mutualists in highly urbanized, suburban and rural study sites. Aphid and natural enemy abundance were highest in the suburban site, while mutualist ants were most abundant in the urban site, reversing the usual positive density-dependent relationship between natural enemies and aphids. The effect of pathogen infection varied with trait and site, mediated by natural enemy preference for hosts or prey on uninfected plants. The effect of infection on aphid abundance was only seen in the suburban site, where natural enemies were most abundant on uninfected plants and aphid numbers were greatest on infected plants. In the urban site, there was no effect of infection, while in the rural site, aphid numbers were lower on infected plants. Uninfected plants were smaller than infected plants and differed between locations. This study suggests that the effects of urbanization on ecological interactions may become more complex and difficult to predict as we study ecological assemblages and communities at greater levels of structural complexity.
... Different butterfly lineages have different microclimate and microhabitat responses [14]. Butterflies also play important roles in the ecosystem, such as pollinating plants [15][16][17][18][19]. Theoretically, maintaining the species diversity and abundance of pollinating butterflies should guarantee the pollination service function of agroforestry ecosystems to a certain extent [16]. ...
Article
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The Qinling Mountains are one of the oldest mountain ranges in China and a global biodiversity research and conservation hotspot. However, there is a lack of systematic research and survey of butterfly diversity in this region. Based on the butterfly taxa, combined with the changes in natural climate, altitude gradient and season in the Qinling Mountains, the butterfly diversity and community structure changes in 12 counties in the middle Qinling Mountains were analyzed by transect surveys and platform data analyses. A total of 9626 butterflies were observed, belonging to 427 species across 175 genera and 5 families. The species richness on the southern slope of the Qinling Mountains was higher than on the northern slope. We also studied the variation in alpha and beta diversity of butterflies. The results show that butterfly species were abundant and the highest diversity was found at the middle altitudes (1000–2000 m). Moreover, there were obvious seasonal differences in both species and number of butterflies. The community similarity in spring, summer and autumn was low, with limited species co-existing. The butterflies in the Qinling Mountains reserve area were the most abundant, exhibiting no significant difference with those in the ecotone and the farm area. Finally, we did an assessment of butterflies as endangered and protected species. In conclusion, our long-term butterfly survey data show that human disturbance and climate and environmental changes jointly shape the butterfly diversity in the middle of the Qinling Mountains.
... The amount of surrounding impervious surface is commonly associated with declines in butterflies [16,49,50]. Surprisingly, we found a positive effect of this variable (at the 2 km radius scale) on butterfly species richness. ...
Article
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Despite increasing concern regarding broad-scale declines in insects, there are few published long-term, systematic butterfly surveys in North America, and fewer still that have incorporated the influence of changing climate and landscape variables. In this study, we analyzed 20 years of citizen science data at seven consistently monitored protected areas in Illinois, U.S.A. We used mixed models and PERMANOVA to evaluate trends in butterfly abundance, richness, and composition while also evaluating the effects of temperature and land use. Overall butterfly richness, but not abundance, increased in warmer years. Surprisingly, richness also was positively related to percent impervious surface (at the 2 km radius scale), highlighting the conservation value of protected areas in urban landscapes (or alternately, the potential negative aspects of agriculture). Precipitation had a significant and variable influence through time on overall butterfly abundance and abundance of resident species, larval host plant specialists, and univoltine species. Importantly, models incorporating the influence of changing temperature, precipitation, and impervious surface indicated a significant overall decline in both butterfly abundance and species richness, with an estimated abundance decrease of 3.8%/year and richness decrease of 1.6%/year (52.5% and 27.1% cumulatively from 1999 to 2018). Abundance and richness declines were also noted across all investigated functional groups except non-resident (migratory) species. Butterfly community composition changed through time, but we did not find evidence of systematic biotic homogenization, perhaps because declines were occurring in nearly all functional groups. Finally, at the site-level, declines in either richness or abundance occurred at five of seven locations, with only the two largest locations (>300 Ha) not exhibiting declines. Our results mirror those of other long-term butterfly studies predominantly in Europe and North America that have found associations of butterflies with climate variables and general declines in butterfly richness and abundance.
... Too much green area may not provide any particular benefit for certain taxa though as bee diversity has in some instances plateaued outside of a 100-m buffer radius [53]. Regardless, establishing larger habitat areas has been shown to positively affect butterfly and bee species richness, abundance, and diversity [85,[96][97][98]. Such variations in size may be more influential on the richness and abundance of smaller bees than large bees, such as Bombus spp., which exhibit greater flight distances and increased mobility associated with size [99]. ...
Article
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Urbanization is a major anthropogenic driver of decline for ecologically and economically important taxa including bees. Despite their generally negative impact on pollinators, cities can display a surprising degree of biodiversity compared to other landscapes. The pollinating communities found within these environments, however, tend to be filtered by interacting local and landscape features that comprise the urban matrix. Landscape and local features exert variable influence on pollinators within and across taxa, which ultimately affects community composition in such a way that contributes to functional trait homogenization and reduced phylogenetic diversity. Although previous results are not easily generalizable, bees and pollinators displaying functional trait characteristics such as polylectic diet, cavity-nesting behavior, and later emergence appear most abundant across different examined cities. To preserve particularly vulnerable species, most notably specialists that have become underrepresented within city communities, green spaces like parks and urban gardens have been examined as potential refuges. Such spaces are scattered across the urban matrix and vary in pollinator resource availability. Therefore, ensuring such spaces are optimized for pollinators is imperative. This review examines how urban features affect pollinators in addition to ways these green spaces can be manipulated to promote greater pollinator abundance and diversity.
... To determine whether fogging was detrimental on the foraging behavior of invertebrate pollinators, we selected Lepidoptera as the focal taxon as they are important tropical pollinators, easily recognizable and also play a vital role as environmental indicators (Tzortzakaki et al., 2019). We counted the number of live butterflies occurring at each of the 10 sites pre-and post-fogging. ...
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Background Human population growth has led to biodiversity declines in tropical cities. While habitat loss and fragmentation have been the main drivers of urban biodiversity loss, man-made interventions to reduce health risks have also emerged as an unintentional threat. For instance, insecticide fogging to control mosquito populations has become the most common method of preventing the expansion of mosquito-borne diseases such as Dengue. However, the effectiveness of fogging in killing mosquitoes has been called into question. One concern is the unintended effect of insecticide fogging on non-target invertebrates that are crucial for the maintenance of urban ecosystems. Here, we investigate the impacts of fogging on: (1) target invertebrate taxon (Diptera, including mosquitoes); (2) non-target invertebrate taxa; and (3) the foraging behavior of an invertebrate pollinator taxon (Lepidoptera) within an urban tropical forest. Methods We carried out fogging with Pyrethroid insecticide (Detral 2.5 EC) at 10 different sites in a forest situated in the state of Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia. Across the sites, we counted the numbers of knocked-down invertebrates and identified them based on morphology to different taxa. We constructed Bayesian hierarchical Poisson regression models to investigate the effects of fogging on: (1) a target invertebrate taxon (Diptera) 3-h post-fogging; (2) selected non-target invertebrate taxa 3-h post-fogging; and (3) an invertebrate pollinator taxon (Lepidoptera) 24-h post-fogging. Results A total of 1,874 invertebrates from 19 invertebrate orders were knocked down by the fogging treatment across the 10 sites. Furthermore, 72.7% of the invertebrates counted 3-h post-fogging was considered dead. Our regression models showed that given the data and prior information, the probability that fogging had a negative effect on invertebrate taxa 3-h post-fogging was 100%, with reductions to 11% of the pre-fogging count of live individuals for the target invertebrate taxon (Diptera), and between 5% and 58% of the pre-fogging count of live individuals for non-target invertebrate taxa. For the invertebrate pollinator, the probability that fogging had a negative effect 24-h post-fogging was also 100%, with reductions to 53% of the pre-fogging count of live individuals. Discussion Our Bayesian models unequivocally demonstrate that fogging has detrimental effects on one pollinator order and non-target invertebrate orders, especially taxa that have comparatively lower levels of chitinisation. While fogging is effective in killing the target order (Diptera), no mosquitos were found dead in our experiment. In order to maintain urban biodiversity, we recommend that health authorities and the private sector move away from persistent insecticide fogging and to explore alternative measures to control adult mosquito populations.
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Urbanization constitutes a major threat to biodiversity. Understanding its effects on insect communities is relevant because they are key elements of trophic interactions, and indicators and targets of conservation. Herein, we investigated the influence of meteorological and habitat factors on the soil entomofauna in three areas with distinct levels of urbanization at the Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca, Brazil. We investigated whether community structure differs among areas with different levels of urbanization, and how changes in the environment affect soil insect community composition and distribution. We systematically monitored communities for 12 months in three areas along a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance, representing preserved secondary forest, disturbed forest and peridomicile areas. The results revealed that the degree of urbanization affects insect communities, with a strong effect of habitat factors, such as canopy cover, presence of flooded areas, quantity of fallen trunks and mean temperature. Insect abundance did not show significant differences among areas, while biomass was higher in disturbed forest than in preserved forest and peridomicile areas. Additionally, insect richness and diversity were higher in preserved and disturbed forests than in peridomicile areas, with no significant difference between preserved and disturbed forests. Our results can be used to enhance the understanding of the effects of urbanization on taxonomically and functionally diverse groups of insects, and to advise residents and urban planners about the consequences of urbanization on biodiversity and ecosystem services in urban-sylvatic interface areas.
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Global climate change and the accelerated urbanization process of coastal habitats have resulted in a drastic reduction in biodiversity, including lepidopteran fauna. In the Atlantic Forest, “restingas” are among the most threatened phytophysiognomies because they are located on the coastal strip, where high demographic densities are concentrated. Therefore, restinga areas have been strongly affected by actions of urbanization, but data on species composition, endemism, or extinction risks, mainly for its entomofauna, remains scarce. In this work, we evaluated whether the abundance and richness of butterfly and diurnal moth species respond to seasonal variations at the Restinga of Barreto Municipal Natural Park (PNMRB) in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We actively searched for butterflies and diurnal moths between 2019 and 2020 and captured them using an entomological net. We tested whether species richness and abundance varied between different periods of the day (morning and afternoon) and seasons (dry and rainy season). We sampled a total of 236 individuals representing 40 butterflies and diurnal moth from eight families. Species abundance and richness were higher during the dry season, when average temperature, relative humidity and rainfall are lower. We observed two peaks of species abundance during the day, one at ~ 10:00 am and the other at ~ 2:00 pm. Nymphalidae was the family with the greatest richness and abundance and the most abundant species were Ascia monuste orseis (Godart, 1819), Heliconius sara apseudes (Hubner, 1813) and Dryas iulia alcionea (Cramer, 1779). The lepidopteran fauna of PNMRB presented a clear seasonal pattern, showing that climatic fluctuations related to variations in average temperature and rainfall can negatively affect this important group of pollinating insects. Studies involving Lepidoptera communities are fundamental to management and conservation plans of insect fauna and the ecosystem services. In this sense, the survey of Lepidoptera diversity in the PNMRB can be relevant information for the maintenance or expansion of protected areas. Also generate data that can increase the knowledge about climatic effects on the temporal distribution and conservation of Neotropical Lepidoptera.
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La fragmentación del hábitat y la urbanización están teniendo un impacto dramático en las comunidades de insectos. La rápida expansión de las áreas urbanas y la intensificación de la agricultura han llevado a la pérdida y división de los hábitats naturales, lo que resulta en la fragmentación de los ecosistemas, este proceso está generando consecuencias significativas para los insectos. Los estudios revisados demuestran que la fragmentación del hábitat y la urbanización están asociadas con una disminución tanto en la diversidad como en la abundancia de las comunidades de insectos. Estos destacan que la fragmentación del hábitat y la urbanización influyen en el comportamiento, la dinámica de las poblaciones de insectos, los patrones de migración, cambios morfométricos, dispersión y reproducción de los insectos, lo que podría tener consecuencias a largo plazo en la composición y estructura de las comunidades de insectos.
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[Objective] Butterflies serve as a vital environmental indicator, which are highly sensitive to ecological shifts induced by human activities. As urbanization intensifies, the diversity of butterflies faces escalating threats. The abundance and composition of butterfly communities are profoundly influenced by landscape characteristics. Consequently, butterflies are frequently adopted as model organisms to elucidate strategies for landscape planning and habitat management in eco-friendly urban areas, mitigating adverse impacts on urban biodiversity caused by human activities. Numerous international researches have investigated the feasibility of enhancing butterfly diversity through urban landscape construction, while some developed nations have transformed theoretical insights into practical implementation. China has a relatively weak research foundation in relevant fields, necessitating urgent exploration of methods tailored to its national conditions for constructing urban butterfly habitats. [Methods] This research establishes a comprehensive theoretical foundation for the research on butterfly habitat landscape based on literature review. By analyzing successful experience in butterfly and habitat conservation from the United Kingdom (“UK”) and the United States (“US”), the research conducts a comparative assessment of butterfly conversation status between China and other nations, culminating in a proposed strategy for constructing butterfly ecological landscape. Taking the southern Jiangsu region as an example, the research develops ecological landscape application models for two selected butterfly groups. [Results] TThe literature review underscores three pivotal levels of butterfly habitat conservation: ensuring habitat area and connectivity, constructing highquality habitats with landscape heterogeneity, and integrating varied landscape scales to maximize conservation efficacy for diverse butterfly species. Consequently, safeguarding urban butterfly habitats necessitates securing habitat areas both surrounding and within cities through macro-level planning while establishing high-quality habitat landscape at small and medium scales. International research on landscape element characteristics, layout design and maintenance provides a theoretical underpinning for the construction of butterfly ecological landscape. Through case studies of the UK and the US, the research scrutinizes the construction methods and conservation measures of the two nations for butterfly habitat. The UK, emphasizing landscape reforestation, employs habitat construction methods such as scrapes, seeding, plug-planting, and butterfly bank. The US, particularly in the conservation of the Monarch butterflies, implements universal butterfly conservation education. Comparative analysis reveals substantial differences in landscape types, user groups, and functional requirements among Chinese cities and cities in developed countries. Based on China’s national conditions, the research explores the path of"species selection – site selection – elements matching – landscape management – science popularization" for constructing butterfly ecological landscape. Taking the southern Jiangsu region as an example, the research develops the application models of ecological landscape for Papilioninae and Satyrinae butterflies. Landscape elements catering to Papilioninae spp. such as Papilio bianor with Rutaceae plants as host and Sericinus montelus with Aristolochiaceae plants as host, comprise open sunny spaces, honey source plants, host plants, shoals, and gravel roads, suitable for deployment in open activity areas of public green spaces. Landscape elements for Satyrinae spp. such as Lethe syrcis with Poaceae bamboos as host and Ypthima baldus with grasses as host, encompass bamboo forests, gravel roads, stones, deciduous layers, and honey plants, suitable for residential green spaces, country parks, and urban forests. [Conclusion] China’s expansive territory and ecological diversity yield varying natural conditions and butterfly species nationwide, necessitating diverse butterfly ecological landscapes. Nevertheless, there are commonalities in function, structure, and elements in butterfly ecological landscapes. In view of this, establishing a landscape model may help mitigate technical and knowledge barriers and facilitate broader application. The research proposes that future efforts should focus on refining the theoretical foundation, practical implementation, public management policies, and public cooperation to formulate a comprehensive urban butterfly and habitat conservation strategy. Moreover, the research also identifies current challenges and future research directions, such as the limited role of small and medium-sized ecological landscapes in biodiversity conservation, the difficulty in establishing stable populations of target butterfly species in artificial habitats, and the interaction between human and wildlife in urban landscape.
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Public and private flower gardens could be valuable for slowing pollinator decline in urbanized areas, as they can potentially provide crucial foraging and reproductive resources in fragmented landscapes. We conducted surveys of adult butterflies at 26 gardens that contained a majority of native species; we then evaluated how the impervious surface percentage (IS%) surrounding each site and the gardens’ local characteristics (garden area, plant species richness, and planting density) influenced butterfly communities. Butterfly diversity and abundance were strongly influenced by interactions between IS% and local characteristics. IS% interacted significantly with plant species richness to affect butterfly species richness (p = 0.027) and also interacted significantly with both garden area (p < 0.001) and planting density (p = 0.001) to affect butterfly abundance. In each of these interactions, increasing IS% had a negative effect on butterfly abundance, but that effect was mitigated by increases in the interacting factor. In all cases, the strength of this mitigation was greater in more urban gardens, i.e. those with higher IS%. For example, while larger gardens always had higher butterfly abundances, this difference was greatest when comparing large urban gardens with small urban gardens. Garden area is also critical; in addition to the interaction with IS%, garden area significantly affected butterfly species richness (p = 0.037). As gardens increased in size, so did butterfly species richness regardless of IS%. Our results show that gardens can positively affect urban butterfly diversity and abundance. Urban conservation efforts should focus on establishing new gardens/habitat patches, as well as increasing the size of currently established gardens.
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Increasing urbanisation and rapid climate change are causing organisms to redistribute across environments. However, the specific factors that influence local spatial community or population dynamics are often elusive, and even less is known about the impact of tropical urban landscapes on diverse species assemblages. In this study, we used a survey dataset with 510 fruit-feeding butterflies comprising 20 species to address this knowledge gap. To understand the butterfly community dynamics in the context of the daily environmental changes across two heterogenous habitats within a city in Nigeria, we assess species abundance, richness, and diversity indices along the thirty-six (36) spots where butterflies were sampled spanning two habitats, a savannah woodland and a gallery forest. We constructed generalised linear models to understand the differential responses of the butterfly community to daily changes in environmental conditions across habitats. Fruit-feeding butterflies’ diversity, richness, and abundance significantly differed between the two urban habitats, with butterfly species diversity, richness, and abundance being significantly higher in the savannah woodland when compared to the gallery forest. Furthermore, we found that butterfly community richness increased in the savannah woodland due to the warmer daily temperatures. In contrast, butterfly richness decreased in the gallery forest due to extreme environmental conditions. Thus, our study highlights that butterfly community changes in tropical urban landscapes may be shaped in response to changes in microclimates and spatial heterogeneity across habitats, with savannah woodland habitats, despite being the more open habitat types, may be serving as a refuge to certain butterfly species.
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The following paper outlines a study conducted on the abundance, distribution, and diversity of butterflies in Mt. Koritnik. located in the Republic of Kosovo, during 2019–2022. This research resulted in a total of 8166 recorded specimens, which belonged to 6 butterfly families, 50 genera and 131 species. The richest family in terms of abundance was Nymphalidae with 4611 specimens (56.47%), followed by Lycaenidae 1924 specimens (23.56%), Pieridae 856 (10.48%), 561 Hesperiidae (6.87%), Papilionidae 179 specimens (2.19%) and Riodinidae with 24 specimens (0.29%). In terms of species richness, Nymphalidae were the richest with 55 species, Lycaenidae 40, followed by 15 Pieridae, 15 Hesperiidae, 5 Papilionidae and 1 Roidinidae. Among 131 registered species, 11 have Near Threatened status in Europe. Our results indicated that species richness and abundance of butterflies were significantly negatively correlated with altitude (p<0.01), whereas they showed a strong positive correlation (p<0.01) with the temperature. The highest abundance and number of species were presented in the lower altitudinal range and the numbers decreased with altitude increasing. Activities such as intensive agriculture, grazing, fires and illegal timber cutting, which were observed during our survey, may be the main threats for butterflies in Mt. Koritnik in the future, therefore, we suggest the data from this research serve as a basic information for authorities to monitor future changes in butterfly diversity.
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In order to perform a concise characterization and evaluation of the butterflies taxocenosis structure of the Rural Health and Technology Center (CSTR) of the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), a semiurban area of the Caatinga biome, Semiarid region, in the Septentrional Sertaneja Depression Ecoregion, a species inventory with entomological net was conducted. There were recorded 81 species of butterflies, distributed in a general abundance of 2531 individuals; among them, 808 specimens were captured and collected, and none of the individuals marked with nontoxic pen and released were recaptured. The list of species was complemented by adding nine more butterflies species, mostly Hesperiidae, from collection before and after the sampling period, constituting a total of 90 species. Many of the butterflies species found in the CSTR are new records for Paraíba state and only four species are considered for the Northeast geographic region, based on other checklists for areas of Atlantic Forest, Caatinga, Cerrado and Amazon biomes in this region: Junonia genoveva infuscata Felder & Felder, 1867, Staphylus melangon epicaste Mabille, 1903, Clito sompa Evans, 1953 and Lerema ancillaris (Butler, 1877).
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Urban expansion poses a serious threat to biodiversity. Given that the expected area of urban land cover is predicted to increase by 2–3 million km2 by 2050, urban environments are one of the most widespread human‐dominated land‐uses affecting biodiversity. Responses to urbanization differ greatly among species. Some species are unable to tolerate urban environments (i.e., urban avoiders), others are able to adapt and use areas with moderate levels of urbanization (i.e., urban adapters), and yet others are able to colonize and even thrive in urban environments (i.e., urban exploiters). Quantifying species‐specific responses to urbanization remains an important goal, but our current understanding of urban tolerance is heavily biased toward traditionally well‐studied taxa (e.g., mammals and birds). We integrated a continuous measure of urbanization—night‐time lights—with over 900,000 species' observations from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to derive a comprehensive analysis of species‐specific (N = 158 species) responses of butterflies to urbanization across Europe. The majority of butterfly species included in our analysis avoided urban areas, regardless of whether species' urban affinities were quantified as a mean score of urban affinity across all occurrences (79%) or as a species' response curve to the whole urbanization gradient (55%). We then used species‐specific responses to urbanization to assess which life history strategies promote urban affinity in butterflies. These trait‐based analyses found strong evidence that the average number of flight months, likely associated with thermal niche breath, and number of adult food types were positively associated with urban affinity, while hostplant specialism was negatively associated with urban affinity. Overall, our results demonstrate that specialist butterflies, both in terms of thermal and diet preferences, are most at risk from increasing urbanization, and should thus be considered in urban planning and prioritized for conservation. We integrated a continuous measure of urbanization—Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) night‐time lights—with over 900,000 species' observations from Global Biodiversity Information Facility to derive a comprehensive analysis of species‐specific (N = 158 species) responses of butterflies to urbanization across Europe. The majority of butterfly species included in our analysis avoided urban areas, regardless of whether species' urban affinities were quantified as a mean score of urban affinity across all occurrences (79%) or as a species' response curve to the whole urbanization gradient (55%). We further found that the average number of flight months, likely associated with thermal niche breath, and number of adult food types were positively associated with urban affinity, while hostplant specialism was negatively associated with urban affinity.
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Context Urbanisation is an environmental filter for many species that leads to community homogenisation, with a few species inhabiting isolated patches (gardens) embedded in the urban landscape. Promoting biodiversity in urban areas requires understanding which and how species traits allow species to survive the urban landscape. Objectives The objective of this study was to assess how species traits and landscape factors combine to allow species functional groups live in the city, by means of the use of suitable patches in the urban landscape. Methods We used butterfly count data collected by volunteers in 24 gardens of Barcelona city, for 2018 and 2019. Species were clustered in functional groups according to their traits. We applied a multinomial choice model to test the effect of the landscape on the different functional groups. Results Three functional groups appeared in the city while a fourth, containing most sedentary specialist species, was filtered out. Although the observed groups had similar species richness, abundances varied depending on urban landscape characteristics. Specialist sedentary and medium mobile species were all favoured by patch connectivity; while the presence of mobile generalist species was only enhanced by habitat quality. Our results indicate that butterfly communities are more diverse in highly connected gardens. Conclusions Our study highlights the need of contextualised management with actions accounting for the species functional groups, rather than a management focused on general species richness. It evidences that urban landscape planning must focus on improving connectivity inside the city in order to diversify the community composition.
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The present study was aimed to understand the community structure and functionality of butterflies in three different sub-tropical ecosystems concerning the habitat types and seasonality. We sampled the butterflies for their abundance, diversity and host plant specificity from 21 linear transects placed in a stratified random manner in heterogeneous mosaic landscapes, urban green spaces and natural forests from April to December 2018. Overall, 6384 individuals of 118 butterfly species in 81 genera, six families and 20 subfamilies were observed. Our results indicated that the land cover type and the seasonal variability had a pronounced influence on the species richness, abundance, diversity and similarity across different sites with significantly higher values recorded for mosaic landscapes during the wet season. In contrast, the urban built-up site was more speciose with higher abundance than natural forests. Each system harboured unique species assemblages with high similarity among the sites as well as seasons. Presence of protected and habitat exclusive species substantiate a high conservation value of these habitats especially the urban green spaces, and thus, calls for effective management strategies for the conservation and proliferation of butterflies in sub-tropical areas of Jammu region.
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Insect pollinators provide a crucial ecosystem service, but are under threat. Urban areas could be important for pollinators, though their value relative to other habitats is poorly known. We compared pollinator communities using quantified flower-visitation networks in 36 sites (each 1 km²) in three landscapes: urban, farmland and nature reserves. Overall, flower-visitor abundance and species richness did not differ significantly between the three landscape types. Bee abundance did not differ between landscapes, but bee species richness was higher in urban areas than farmland. Hoverfly abundance was higher in farmland and nature reserves than urban sites, but species richness did not differ significantly. While urban pollinator assemblages were more homogeneous across space than those in farmland or nature reserves, there was no significant difference in the numbers of rarer species between the three landscapes. Network-level specialization was higher in farmland than urban sites. Relative to other habitats, urban visitors foraged from a greater number of plant species (higher generality) but also visited a lower proportion of available plant species (higher specialization), both possibly driven by higher urban plant richness. Urban areas are growing, and improving their value for pollinators should be part of any national strategy to conserve and restore pollinators.
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Urbanization causes rapid changes in the landscape and land use, exerting a significant pressure on bird communities. The effect of urbanization on bird diversity has been widely investigated in many cities worldwide; however, our knowledge on urban bird communities from the eastern Mediterranean region is very scarce. In this context, we aimed to investigate the effect of the different land-cover types on bird species richness and abundance in a densely built coastal Mediterranean city (Patras, Greece) during the breeding and wintering seasons. We sampled the bird community in 90 randomly selected sites along an urbanization gradient. Open green spaces proved to be the most significant factor favouring bird diversity in both seasons. In winter, woody vegetation and impervious surfaces had a positive effect on species richness as well. The local bird community consisted of a large number of species associated with open and semi-open unmanaged green areas, 12 of which are Species of European Conservation Concern (SPECs) showing a declining trend in Europe. On the other hand, in winter the number of forest-dwellers increased significantly. Species richness was significantly higher in winter indicating that the urban environment provides important wintering grounds. Thus, management actions in cities with similar characteristics in the Mediterranean region should focus on the maintenance of open green spaces and woody vegetation patches to enhance bird diversity.
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Urban ecology research is changing how we view the biological value and ecological importance of cities. Lagging behind this revised image of the city are natural resource management agencies' urban conservation programs that historically have invested in education and outreach rather than programs designed to achieve high-priority species conservation results. This essay synthesizes research on urban bee species diversity and abundance to suggest how urban conservation can be repositioned to better align with a newly unfolding image of urban landscapes. We argue that pollinators put high-priority and high-impact urban conservation within reach. In a rapidly urbanizing world, transforming how environmental managers view the city can improve citizen engagement while exploring more sustainable practices of urbanization. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Aim The Mediterranean Red List assessment is a review of the conservation status at regional level of approximately 6,000 species (amphibians, mammals, reptiles, fishes, butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, molluscs, corals and plants) according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. It identifies those species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level to guide appropriate conservation actions for improving their status. This report summarises the results for Mediterranean butterflies. Scope The geographical scope is the Mediterranean region according to the Mediterranean Basin Biodiversity Hotspot (Mittermeier et al. 2004), with exception of the Macaronesian islands which have not been included in this study. Conservation status assessment The species conservation status was assessed using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (IUCN 2012a). The assessments followed the guidelines for application of IUCN Red List Criteria at regional levels (IUCN 2012b). They were compiled from a network of 35 experts from 20 countries in the region, and reviewed during a workshop in Málaga (Spain) in 2013 and through correspondence with relevant experts. All individual taxon assessments are available on the IUCN Red List website: http://www.iucnredlist.org/initiatives/mediterranean Mediterranean butterflies In the Mediterranean region 463 species of butterflies are recorded, 98 of them endemic (which means that they are unique to the Mediterranean and found nowhere else in the world). Thirty-four species occur only marginally in the region, while one species (Cacyreus marshalli) was introduced in the 1980s; and therefore these 35 were considered as Not Applicable in this assessment. The highest diversity of butterflies is found in mountainous areas in southern Turkey, northern Greece and southern France. Results Overall, about 5% (19 species) of butterflies are threatened in the Mediterranean region. Two per cent are considered Near Threatened and more than 6% are Data Deficient. This percentage is similar to those of Mediterranean birds and it is lower than for other groups assessed in the region such as amphibians (31%), reptiles (13%), mammals (14%) and dragonflies (19%). In the Mediterranean butterflies are slightly less threatened than in Europe (8%), probably because of the higher area of remaining natural and semi-natural habitats throughout the region. With 21% of species endemic to the region, more than 15% of them are threatened with extinction. Most of the threatened species are confined to high elevations in southern Spain, the High and MiddleAtlas in Morocco and the Anti-Taurus Mountains in southern Turkey. The main current threat to Mediterranean butterflies is habitat loss due to the changes in the management of semi-natural grasslands either through intensification, overgrazing or abandonment. Other important threats are the intensity of tourism development in high mountains, specimen collection, domestic and agricultural pollution, climate change, transportation and service corridors, and mining. In many Mediterranean countries there is a significant lack of information regarding distribution, population size and trends, especially in the southern and eastern part of the region. Conclusions and recommendations Although the percentage of threatened butterflies is lower than in other groups assessed in the region, there is an important lack of information regarding distribution, population size and trends for several species, which could result in an increased number of threatened species. Changes in agricultural uses due to agricultural intensification, overgrazing and abandonment are a threat to Mediterranean butterfly diversity. Further conservation actions are necessary to improve its status: – National and international legislation should be fully implemented and revised to include the threatened species identified in this assessment. – Prioritize field work and data collection for Data Deficient species to determine whether they need conservation actions. – Species/habitat action plans should be drawn for the most threatened species. – Butterfly monitoring should be started up in many more parts of the Mediterranean. Only regular counts provide data to follow populations of butterflies in detail. – Ensure that the strong regional cooperation between experts continues, and start new cooperation efforts with experts from countries where information is scarce, so that the work carried out to produce the first evaluation of the conservation status of native Mediterranean butterflies can be updated as new information becomes available.
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Human migration to urban centers has resulted in diverse environmental disturbances that affect biodiversity. Although urbanization has been highlighted as one of the main drivers of biodiversity endangerment, this topic is still poorly studied in many countries. In order to establish the status quo of the ecology of butterflies in urban centers, we gathered publications focused on urban butterflies (Lepidoptera). We compiled a total of 173 studies from 37 countries and more than 110 urban areas, including published papers and theses (1956–2015). Most papers (69 %) addressed ecological topics, 14 % were focused on biological conservation, and 17 % corresponded to species lists. In summary, most studies revealed a negative impact of urbanization intensity on butterfly diversity (richness and abundance). In fact, we found studies reporting local extinctions due to urbanization, highlighting the causes related to them. The study of charismatic urban wildlife groups, such as butterflies, is a promising field, as there are still important gaps in our comprehension of the ecological patterns and processes that occur in urban areas. Undoubtedly, understanding the response of butterflies to urbanization will aid in the development of urban biodiversity management, planning, and conservation strategies worldwide, which together with knowledge of other wildlife groups and socioeconomic variables, will lead us to more sustainable, livable, and biodiverse cities.
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As urbanisation is set to continue, understanding the impact on wildlife becomes increasingly important if we are to be able to conserve biodiversity. As an excellent group of bioindicators, invertebrates can allow us to understand some of the forces in urban areas which impact upon biodiversity and wildlife populations. This paper discusses some of the trends in the abundance, diversity and richness of invertebrates related to urbanisation and the specific urban environmental and traffic factors which may be at play.
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This revised and updated edition focuses on constrained ordination (RDA, CCA), variation partitioning and the use of permutation tests of statistical hypotheses about multivariate data. Both classification and modern regression methods (GLM, GAM, loess) are reviewed and species functional traits and spatial structures analysed. Nine case studies of varying difficulty help to illustrate the suggested analytical methods, using the latest version of Canoco 5. All studies utilise descriptive and manipulative approaches, and are supported by data sets and project files available from the book website: Http://regent.prf.jcu.cz/maed2/. Written primarily for community ecologists needing to analyse data resulting from field observations and experiments, this book is a valuable resource to students and researchers dealing with both simple and complex ecological problems, such as the variation of biotic communities with environmental conditions or their response to experimental manipulation.
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