Prescribed fire maintains host plants of a rare grassland butterfly.

ABSTRACT: As grassland ecosystems transform globally due to anthropogenic pressures, improvements in our understanding of the effect of management on rare and threatened species in such landscapes has become urgent. Although prescribed fire is a very efficient tool for habitat restoration and endangered species management on fire-adapted ecosystems, the specific mechanisms underlying potential effects of burning on population dynamics of butterfly host plants are poorly understood. We analyzed a 12-year dataset (2004-2015), combining violet abundance, habitat physiognomy and fire history data from a fire-managed system, to determine factors influencing the spatiotemporal distribution and abundance of violets (Viola spp.), the host plants of the threatened eastern regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia id

SUBMITTER: Adamidis GC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6856363 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature