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Effect of cultivating croplands and grazing in arid grassland habitats on the conservation of melitaeine butterflies in a mountainous area in Northern China

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Abstract

In the study area (Yanjiaping Village, Hebei Province, China), grazing extensity varies at different locations, small and discontinuous croplands are imbedded in some arid grassland, which are habitats for the melitaeine butterflies, Euphydryas aurinia and Melitaea phoebe. These two species of butterfilies coexist in this area, in which grazing and cultivation are the main disturbances. Grazing and cultivation have a reciprocal effect on E. aurinia, rather than M. phoebe. We observed that E. aurinia preferred to occupy patches with moderate grazing and imbedded with small and discontinuous croplands, where E. aurinia also has high population density. The percentage of E. aurinia larval groups in the ribbings was significantly higher than that of M. phoebe, whereas larvae of both species tended to increase in recent years. Our data also showed that the population density and the patch occupancy rate of both E. aurinia and M. phoebe were the highest under moderate grazing. It indicates that cultivation of small and discontinuous croplands within the patch has a significant effect on the population density of both species of melitaeine butterflies. Thus, to artificially create or maintain semi-natural habitats, complemented by moderate grazing, might be an ecological strategy to conserve melitaeine butterflies effectively. Considering the distinct impacts of cultivation and grazing on the population distribution and dynamics of the two different species, human disturbance in the mountainous area might be strategically involved in proposing conservation plans for the target species in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Wang YiFei, Chen JieJun, Liu WenHua & Xu RuMei

  2. Forestry Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry Sciences, Beijing, 100091, China

    Wang YiFei

  3. China National Center for Biotechnology Development, Ministry of Science and Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Chen JieJun

  4. Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, 510300, China

    Liu WenHua

Authors
  1. Wang YiFei
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  2. Chen JieJun
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  3. Liu WenHua
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  4. Xu RuMei
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Correspondence to Xu RuMei.

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 39893360 and 30270241), and the Chinese Ministry of Education (Grant No. 272007)

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Wang, Y., Chen, J., Liu, W. et al. Effect of cultivating croplands and grazing in arid grassland habitats on the conservation of melitaeine butterflies in a mountainous area in Northern China. SCI CHINA SER C 50, 40–46 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-007-0015-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-007-0015-3

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