Habitat associations of day-flying Lepidoptera and their foodplants within nature reserves in Bedfordshire, UK.

ABSTRACT:

Abstract

Species often associate with specific habitat characteristics, resulting in patchy distributions, whereby they only occupy a proportion of available habitat. Understanding which characteristics species require is a valuable tool for informing conservation management. We investigated the associations of eleven species of day-flying Lepidoptera larvae and their foodplants with habitat characteristics within calcareous grassland reserves in Bedfordshire, UK, across two scales relevant to land managers and target species: the reserve (cardinal aspect, vegetation type) and foodplant patch scale (foodplant height and density). We investigated whether ecological traits (habitat specialism, as defined at a national-scale, and overwintering life stage) influenced the strength of as

SUBMITTER: Ashe-Jepson E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11489185 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature