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Grassland butterflies and low intensity farming in Europe

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Abstract

In this paper we describe the impact of the abandonment of traditional farming practices on butterflies and their habitats in traditional, often montane, pastoral systems. We link these declines to socioeconomic factors: illustrating how the failure of the CAP to support traditional farming leads to structural changes in farming enterprises—features which may be obscured by crude statistics on stock. We then call for the scheduled CAP reforms in 2013 to be radically realigned to support rather than destroy biodiversity so that any new EU agri-biodiversity commitments have an effective funding stream to support them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environment, Sustainability and Regeneration, Staffordshire University, College Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2DE, UK

    J. W. Dover

  2. Butterfly Conservation European Interests Group, Rhoslan, Brithdir, Llanfyllin, Powys, SY22 5HB, UK

    S. Spencer

  3. Butterfly Conservation, Manor Yard, Wareham, BH20 5QP, UK

    S. Collins

  4. Department of Nutritional Physiology and Feeding, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos, 118 55, Athens, Greece

    I. Hadjigeorgiou

  5. Departamento de Ecología, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain

    A. Rescia

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  1. J. W. Dover
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  2. S. Spencer
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  3. S. Collins
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  4. I. Hadjigeorgiou
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  5. A. Rescia
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Correspondence to J. W. Dover.

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Dover, J.W., Spencer, S., Collins, S. et al. Grassland butterflies and low intensity farming in Europe. J Insect Conserv 15, 129–137 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-010-9332-0

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