Importance of semi-natural habitats for the conservation of butterfly communities in landscapes dominated by pine plantations |
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Authors: | Inge van Halder Luc Barbaro Emmanuel Corcket Hervé Jactel |
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Institution: | (1) INRA, UMR1202 Biodiversité, Gènes et Communautés, 69 Route d’Arcachon, F-33612 Cestas, France;(2) UMR1202 Biodiversité, Gènes et Communautés, Ecologie des Communautés, Université Bordeaux 1, Avenue des Facultés, F-33405 Talence, France |
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Abstract: | While the area of plantation forests continues to increase worldwide, their contribution to the conservation of biodiversity
is still controversial. There is a particular concern on the central role played by natural habitat remnants embedded within
the plantation matrix in conserving species-rich insect communities. We surveyed butterflies in maritime pine plantation landscapes
in south-western France in 83 plots belonging to seven habitat types (five successional stages of pine stands, native deciduous
woodlands and herbaceous firebreaks). The effect of plot, habitat and landscape attributes on butterfly species richness,
community composition and individual species were analysed with a General Linear Model (GLM), partial Canonical Correspondence
Analysis (CCA) and the IndVal method. The most important factors determining butterfly diversity and community composition
were the presence of semi-natural habitats (deciduous woodlands and firebreaks) at the landscape scale and the composition
of understorey vegetation at the plot scale. Pure effects of plot variables explained the largest part of community variation
(12.8%), but landscape factors explained an additional, independent part (6.7%). Firebreaks were characterized by a higher
species richness and both firebreaks and deciduous woodlands harboured species not or rarely found in pine stands. Despite
the forest-dominated landscape, typical forest butterflies were rare and mainly found in the deciduous woodlands. Threatened
species, such as Coenonympha oedippus and Euphydryas aurinia, were found in pine stands and in firebreaks, but were more abundant in the latter. In the studied plantation forest, the
conservation of butterflies depends mainly on the preservation of semi-natural habitats, an adequate understorey management
and the maintenance of soil moisture levels. |
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Keywords: | Butterflies Communities Deciduous woodlands Firebreaks Habitat Landscape Pinus pinaster Plantation forests |
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