Dispersal and adaptation strategies of the high mountain butterfly Boloria pales in the Romanian Carpathians.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Habitat quality is one main trigger for the persistence of butterflies. The effects of the influencing biotic and abiotic factors may be enhanced by the challenging conditions in high-alpine environments. To better our knowledge in this field, we performed a mark-release-recapture study with Boloria pales in the Southern Carpathians.

Methods

We analysed population structure, movement and foraging behaviour to investigate special adaptations to the alpine environment and to reveal differences between sexes. We compared these aspects in one sector with and one sector without grazing to address the effects of grazing intensity on habitat quality.

Results

We observed "soft" protandry, in which only a small number of males appeared before females,

SUBMITTER: Ehl S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6335762 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature