A highway intersection as an alternative habitat for a meadow butterfly: effect of mowing, habitat geometry and roads on the ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)

Published source details Valtonen A. & Saarinen K. (2005) A highway intersection as an alternative habitat for a meadow butterfly: effect of mowing, habitat geometry and roads on the ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus). Annales Zoologici Fennici, 545-556.
Share Tweet Email

This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Alter mowing regimes on greenspaces and road verges Action Link

Alter mowing regimes on greenspaces and road verges

A study in 2003 along a highway in South Karelia, Finland (Valtonen and Saarinen 2005) found that roadsides mown in had more ringlet butterflies Aphantopus hyperantus than those mown in mid-summer. There were more ringlets along road verges that were mown in late summer (estimated population size = 840–2720; population density = 1160–4360 individuals/ha) than those mown in mid-summer (estimated population size: 220–1500 individuals; population density: 500–1200 individuals/ha). A lower percentage of butterflies first caught along verges mown in late summer (11–31%) moved out of their original patch than those caught along verges mown in mid-summer (43–63%) (these data were not tested for statistical significance). On 30 days between June and August 2003, butterflies were sampled using mark-release-recapture surveys along a 2.2-km long transect along a highway intersection and adjacent roads. The site was divided into 80–280-m sections based on habitat: an intersection between two roads with either late summer mowing and hay removal or with mid-summer (June) mowing without hay removal, and a highway verge with either partial July and full late summer mowing without hay removal (counted as late summer mowing in the study) or with mid-summer (July) mowing without hay removal. The effect of hay removal was not tested.

(Summarised by: Eleanor Bladon)