N equals two (times five). Exploring the effects of horse rewilding on five congeneric adult butterflies

0574074 - BC 2024 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Hájková, K. - Grill, S. - Sucháčková Bartoňová, Alena - Fric, Zdeněk - Hauck, David - Sbaraglia, Claudio - Shovkun, Dmitry - Vodičková, Veronika - Vrba, Pavel - Konvička, Martin
N equals two (times five). Exploring the effects of horse rewilding on five congeneric adult butterflies.
Journal for Nature Conservation. Roč. 24, AUG 2023 (2023), č. článku 126445. ISSN 1617-1381. E-ISSN 1618-1093
R&D Projects: GA TA ČR(CZ) SS01010526
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : checkerspot * Lepidoptera * Nymphalidae * mark-release-recapture
OECD category: Biodiversity conservation
Impact factor: 2, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1617138123001164/pdfft?md5=71f7e11e2aa8b6b87d73a2ad2479e48f&pid=1-s2.0-S1617138123001164-main.pdf

Rewilding incomplete ecosystems by using ungulate megaherbivores represents a significant potential for sustainable management of habitats of declining species. Two xeric grasslands patches in the Podyjí National Park, Czech Republic, were rewilded by a feral horse breed, the Exmoor pony, in 2018. Before this in 2017, demography, mobility, and adult habitat use of five congeneric Melitaea butterflies co-occurring at the grasslands were investigated (Vodickova et al., J. Nature Conserv. 2019). In 2021, four seasons after the rewilding, we replicated the survey to assess the effects of the horse on the butterflies. Here, we compare the results of the two surveys and investigate changes in spatial patterns of adult distribution using Ripley’s K-functions. Total numbers of captures, and estimated population sizes, were consistently lower in 2021, with the largest drop for spring-flying M. cinxia. We cannot discern whether this was due to the cold 2021 spring, or due to reduction of grasses by the horse, possibly contributing to desiccation of M. cinxia host plants. Demographic parameters such as residency/longevity and capture probability changed only little. Mobility ranking among species remained identical, but within species, some mobility characteristics changed among years. Among early summer species, M. britomartis, second most abundant in 2017, switched to the first position with M. aurelia, and these two species displayed the most notable shift in adult habitat use between the two seasons. Short thorny shrubs avoided by the horse protect M. britomartis host plants, this threatened butterfly thus did not suffer from horse presence. M. athalia, a species of woodland edges, profited from decay of conifers caused by a series of dry years, and M. didyma, forming multiple generations, from increase of its host plant. Contrary to expectations, spatial distribution of most butterflies became more aggregated within rewilded pastures, probably due to regularities in home ranges use by the horses, which restructured the vegetation in a zonal, rather than patchy, way. A considerably larger areas should be rewilded by the herbivores to fully achieve the desired beneficial effects.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0349121