Search

For developing organisms, early environmental conditions are critical as they provide cues about their environment and are thus helpful to make decisions for the short and long term. As such, the early environment is known to affect several phenotypic traits, and these can persist after developmental growth. However, the role of these early environmental conditions in shaping personality traits remains largely unknown. Here, we used a reciprocal transplant experiment to explore the effect of landscape of origin versus landscape of development on boldness and activity in a butterfly, Pararge aegeria. Larvae of woodland, agricultural and urban population origins were reared in situ in their landscape of origin or under the two alternative environmental conditions. We then repeatedly quantified boldness and activity in the F1 adults under laboratory conditions. While the landscape of development appeared to have no effect on mean trait values, it affected trait repeatability through changes in among-individual variation. Additionally, males of agricultural origin had higher mean boldness scores than woodland and urban origin males. Also, average boldness declined with testing sequence in individuals of woodland origin, but not in agricultural and urban origin individuals. Overall, our results suggest that (1) conspecifics originating from distinct habitat types differ in some aspects of boldness, and (2) early developmental conditions can affect behavioural consistency without changing mean behavioural phenotypes.

The species abundance distribution (SAD) depicts the relative abundance of species within a community, which is a key concept in ecology. Here, we test whether SADs are more likely to either follow a lognormal‐like or follow a logseries‐like distribution and how that may change with spatial scale. Our results show that the shape of SADs changes from logseries‐like at small, plot scales to lognormal‐like at large, landscape scales. However, the rate at which the SAD's shape changes also depends on species traits linked to the spatial distribution of individuals. Specifically, we show for oligophagous and small macro‐moth species that a logseries distribution is more likely at small scales and a lognormal distribution is more likely at large scales, whereas the logseries distribution fits well at both small and large scales for polyphagous and large species. We also show that SAD moments scale as power laws as a function of spatial scale, and we assess the performance of Tchebichef moments and polynomials to reconstruct SADs at the landscape scale from information at local scales. Overall, the method performed well and reproduced the shapes of the empirical distributions

Aim We test whether urbanization drives biotic homogenization. We hypothesize that declines in abundance and species diversity of aerial insects are exacerbated by the urbanization-driven loss of species with low habitat generalism, mobility and warm-adaptedness. We predict this homogenization to be more pronounced for nocturnal taxa, and at wider scales for mobile taxa.

The Vrakelberg is a nature reserve located in the town of Voerendaal, which harbours a population of Military orchid (Orchis militaris). This population was studied in 2015, in an attempt to clarify the deceptive pollination system in Orchis militaris. Deceptive pollination means that plant individuals manage to attract pollinators by faking the presence of a nectar reward, despite the absence of such a reward for the pollinators. The effect of various factors on fruit set was investigated at the microhabitat scale. The probability of setting fruit was driven by inflorescence length, vegetation height and the density of actually rewarding plant species in the vicinity, whose effect was contingent upon their species richness. Our study demonstrates that generalised food deception, and not Batesian mimicry, is the most likely strategy of pollinator attraction in Orchis militaris. We conclude that this orchid species is dependent on pollination facilitation and hence benefits from the proximity of rewarding plants.

Body size is intrinsically linked to metabolic rate and life-history traits, and is a crucial determinant of food webs and community dynamics1,2. The increased temperatures associated with the urban-heat-island effect result in increased metabolic costs and are expected to drive shifts to smaller body sizes3. Urban environments are, however, also characterized by substantial habitat fragmentation4, which favours mobile species. Here, using a replicated, spatially nested sampling design across ten animal taxonomic groups, we show that urban communities generally consist of smaller species. In addition, although we show urban warming for three habitat types and associated reduced community-weighted mean body sizes for four taxa, three taxa display a shift to larger species along the urbanization gradients. Our results show that the general trend towards smaller-sized species is overruled by filtering for larger species when there is positive covariation between size and dispersal, a process that can mitigate the low connectivity of ecological resources in urban settings5. We thus demonstrate that the urban-heat-island effect and urban habitat fragmentation are associated with contrasting community-level shifts in body size that critically depend on the association between body size and dispersal. Because body size determines the structure and dynamics of ecological networks1, such shifts may affect urban ecosystem function.

Animal behaviour may change with age, when young individuals experience different environments from adults. However, the role of ontogeny in personality traits is still open to debate and it is not clear whether individual differences in behaviour are maintained across important ontogenetic changes such as metamorphosis. Here, we repeatedly quantified personality in rural and urban populations of the speckled wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria) at the larval, pupal and adult stages. We detected significant repeatability at all life stages, showing that personality is already present at the immature stages. We found no evidence for landscape-related differences in personality traits, but adult males were bolder and more active than adult females. Adults also became bolder with trial sequence, suggesting habitation to the experimental procedure. Urbanisation, together with sex, affected relationships among larval and adult personality traits. More active larvae with short latencies resulted in more explorative adults. However, this was the case in males of urban origin only, and we detected no such correlation in females or in rural males. We suggest that harsh conditions prevailing in cities may lead to stronger trait integration across metamorphosis but also that these urbanisation-related selective pressures may act differently on males and females.

The increasing conversion of agricultural and natural areas to human-dominated urban landscapes is predicted to lead to a major decline in biodiversity worldwide. Two conditions that typically differ between urban environments and the surrounding landscape are increased temperature, and high patch isolation and habitat turnover rates. However, the extent and spatial scale at which these altered conditions shape biotic communities through selection and/or filtering on species traits are currently poorly understood. We sampled carabid beetles at 81 sites in Belgium using a hierarchically nested sampling design wherein three local-scale (200 × 200 m) urbanization levels were repeatedly sampled across three landscape-scale (3 × 3 km) urbanization levels. First, we showed that communities sampled in the most urbanized locations and landscapes displayed a distinct species composition at both local and landscape scale. Second, we related community means of species-specific thermal preferences and dispersal capacity (based on European distribution and wing morphology, respectively) to the urbanization gradients. We showed that urban communities consisted on average of species with a preference for higher temperatures and with better dispersal capacities compared to rural communities. These shifts were caused by an increased number of species tolerating higher temperatures, a decreased richness of species with low thermal preference, and an almost complete depletion of species with very low-dispersal capacity in the most urbanized localities. Effects of urbanization were most clearly detected at the local scale, although more subtle effects could also be found at the scale of entire landscapes. Our results demonstrate that urbanization may fundamentally and consistently alter species composition by exerting a strong filtering effect on species dispersal characteristics and favouring replacement by warm-dwelling species.

Climate alteration is one of the most cited ecological consequences of urbanization. However, the magnitude of this impact is likely to vary with spatial scale. We investigated how this alteration affects the biological fitness of insects, which are especially sensitive to ambient conditions and well-suited organisms to study urbanization-related changes in phenotypic traits. We monitored temperature and relative air humidity in wooded sites characterized by different levels of urbanization in the surroundings. Using a split-brood design experiment, we investigated the effect of urbanization at the local (i.e., 200 × 200 m) and landscape (i.e., 3 × 3 km) scale on two key traits of biological fitness in two closely related butterfly species that differ in thermal sensitivity. In line with the Urban Heat Island concept, urbanization led to a 1°C increase in daytime temperature and an 8% decrease in daytime relative humidity at the local scale. The thermophilous species Lasiommata megera responded at the local scale: larval survival increased twofold in urban compared to rural sites. Urbanized sites tended to produce bigger adults, although this was the case for males only. In the woodland species Pararge aegeria, which has recently expanded its ecological niche, we did not observe such a response, neither at the local, nor at the landscape scale. These results demonstrate interspecific differences in urbanization-related phenotypic plasticity and larval survival. We discuss larval pre-adaptations in species of different ecological profiles to urban conditions. Our results also highlight the significance of considering fine-grained spatial scales in urban ecology.

Citizen science projects have become important data sources for ecologists. However, opportunistic data are not only characterized by spatial and temporal biases, but probably also contain species identification errors, especially concerning morphologically similar species. Such misidentifications may result in wrongly estimated distribution ranges and trends, and thus in inadequate conservation measures. We illustrate this issue with three skipper butterflies (Hesperiidae) in Flanders (northern Belgium) using photographs uploaded with observations in data portals. Ochlodes sylvanus and Thymelicus lineola records had relatively low identification error rates (1 and 11 %, respectively), but the majority (59 %) of Thymelicus sylvestris records turned out to be misidentified. Using verified records only allowed us to model their distribution more accurately, especially for T. sylvestris whose actual distribution area had hitherto been strongly overestimated. An additional field study on T. sylvestris confirmed the species distribution model output as the species was almost completely restricted to sites with verified records and was largely absent from sites with unverified records. The preference of T. sylvestris for unimproved grasslands was confirmed by the negative correlation between its model-predicted presence and elevated nitrogen and ammonia levels. Thus, quality control of citizen science data is of major importance to improve the knowledge of species distribution ranges, biotope preferences and other limiting factors. This, in turn, will help to better assess species conservation statuses and to suggest more appropriate management and mitigation measures.

Rewilding is als natuurbehoudsaanpak aan een opmars bezig. Het is een toekomstgericht concept met voordelen voor zowel mens als natuur. Bovendien past dit natuurbehoudsconcept ook binnen onze moderne sociale context. Geven we rewilding dan ook een plaats in het natuurbehoud in Vlaanderen ?

Recent anthropogenic eutrophication has meant that host plants of nettle-feeding insects became quasi-omnipresent in fertile regions of Western Europe. However, host plant resource quality – in terms of microclimate and nutritional value – may vary considerably between the ‘original’ forest habitat and ‘recent’ agricul- tural habitat. Here, we compared development in both environmental settings using a split-brood design, so as to explore to what extent larval survival and adult morphology in the nettle-feeding butterfly Aglais urticae are influenced by the anthropogenic environment. Nettles along field margins had higher C/N ratios and provided warmer microclimates to larvae. Larvae developed 20% faster and tended to improve their survival rates, on the agricultural land compared to woodland. Our split-brood approach indicated plastic responses within families, but also family effects in the phenotypic responses. Adult males and females had darker wing pigmentation in the drier and warmer agricultural environment, which contrasts with the thermal melanism hypothesis. Developmental plasticity in response to this microclimatically different and more variable habitat was asso- ciated with a broader phenotypic parameter space for the species. Both habitat expansion and developmental plasticity are likely contributors to the ecological and evolutionary success of these nettle-feeding insects in anthropogenic environments under high nitrogen load.

Small organisms provide the bulk of biodiversity. Here, we look at rewilding from their perspective. As an umbrella group for other terrestrial invertebrates, we focus on the diverse group of Lepidoptera. More specifically, we set out to explore their response to farmland abandonment. So far, studies have warned against farmland abandonment, which is for instance listed as one of the key threats to European butterfly diversity. Here, partly based on a case study within the Peneda mountain range, we argue (i) that the majority of Lepidoptera is to a greater or lesser extent forest-dependent, (ii) that effects on species composition should be considered at regional rather than smaller scales, and (iii) that habitat resource heterogeneity at multiple spatial scales is key. As such, we believe that rewilding does offer opportunities to Lepidoptera. However, we recommend rewilding not to be equalled to a hands-off approach, but rather to a goal-driven conservation management approach. It should monitor, and where necessary intervene to provide habitat heterogeneity at multiple spatial scales, in order to cater for the whole gradient of sedentary to mobile species. Given that sufficient levels of habitat heterogeneity are maintained, Lepidoptera are one of probably many taxa that are likely to benefit from rewilding processes on European marginal farmland. The resulting improved species composition will help achieve European species conservation targets. It may also lead to more viable populations of moths, butterflies and other invertebrates,which will foster more resilient food-webs and increased ecosystem functioning

Despite continued discussion about market distortions and environmental impacts, agricultural subsidies continue to be a key component of European Union policy. About 10% of the agro-forestry subsidies are targeted at supporting agri-environment schemes, and at supporting farming in Less Favoured Areas (LFA) such as mountain regions. One of the main justifications for these agri-environmental subsidies towards marginally productive land is that they promote the conservation of biodiversity by maintaining low-intensity farming practices. Here, we critically examine this assumption and argue instead for a two-tier approach to Europe's agri-environmental policy based on inherent land fertility and spatial scale: (i) at a local, single-farm scale, fertile agricultural land should preferentially be intensively but sustainably farmed with a focus on high yields, (ii) while simultaneously and at larger, regional scales, less-productive land, and especially protected areas, may be ecologically restored into ‘wild’ and resiliently functioning ecosystems. As such, agri-environmental subsidies towards fertile land should support the implementation of measures that benefit biodiversity while allowing, and even helping, the achievement of high agricultural yields. In contrast, agri-environmental and LFA subsidies towards marginal land and protected areas should also promote rewilding and the management of natural succession. In order for this approach to be successful, a higher proportion of the Common Agricultural Policy subsidies would need to be allocated to environmental goals.

Brandnetels zijn alom aanwezig in een geëutrofieerd landschap op mensenmaat. Vlinders die zich specialiseren op deze waardplanten lijken het dus goed voor elkaar te hebben. Of is de ene netel toch de andere niet voor de ontwikkeling van deze insecten? We gingen dit na met veldexperimenten aan de hand van Dagpauwoog en Kleine vos. Ook de ene vlinder blijkt de andere niet.

Light traps are used to make inferences about local macro-moth communities, but very little is known about the efficiency with which they attract moths from varying distances, and how this may differ among families. We released 731 marked individuals, from three of the most common and species-rich macro-moth families, at several distances from low-wattage actinic light traps in open and woodland habitat. Logistic regression showed family-specific sampling areas: erebids were attracted from up to 27 m, geometrids from up to 23 m, and noctuids from up to 10 m from the light source, with these distances corresponding to a 5% recapture rate. Sampling size was also family-specific: a maximum of 55% of erebids, 15% of geometrids, and 10% of noctuids were predicted to be trapped when flying near (0–1 m) light traps. Our study demonstrates that weak light traps: (i) have remarkably local sampling ranges, resulting in samples that are highly representative of the local habitat, and (ii) attract small, and family-specific proportions of individuals within these ranges. We suggest that the local sampling ranges of weak light traps make them excellent tools to monitor nocturnal macro-moth communities. As trap efficiency differs among macro-moth families, care must be taken in relating the abundance of the sample to absolute local abundance. Frequent sampling can provide adequate data on relative temporal change in the local macro-moth fauna, however.

Het aantal nachtvlinderwaarnemingen in Vlaanderen zit duidelijk in de lift. De voorbije jaren noteerden we dan ook een reeks bijzondere (her)ontdekkingen van zeldzame nachtvlindersoorten. Voor veel beheerders is zo’n ontdekking in ‘hun’ reservaat een opsteker, maar al snel rijst de vraag wat die zeldzame soort nodig heeft: welke hulpbronnen zijn essentieel en dus welke eisen stelt de soort? Hoewel soortgerichte maatregelen wegens tal van kennishiaten vaak moeilijk te geven zijn, toont een serie recente onderzoeken aan dat nachtvlindervriendelijk beheer mogelijk is door het hanteren van een aantal vuistregels.

1.Light traps are used to make inferences about local macro-moth communities, but very little is known about the efficiency with which they attract moths from varying distances, and how this may differ among families. 2.We released 731 marked individuals, from three of the most common and species-rich macro-moth families, at several distances from low-wattage actinic light traps in open and woodland habitat. 3.Logistic regression showed family-specific sampling areas: erebids were attracted from up to 27 m, geometrids from up to 23 m, and noctuids from up to 10 m from the light source, with these distances corresponding to a 5% recapture rate. Sampling size was also family-specific: a maximum of 55% of erebids, 15% of geometrids, and 10% of noctuids were predicted to be trapped when flying near (0–1 m) light traps. 4.Our study demonstrates that weak light traps: (i) have remarkably local sampling ranges, resulting in samples that are highly representative of the local habitat, and (ii) attract small, and family-specific proportions of individuals within these ranges. 5.We suggest that the local sampling ranges of weak light traps make them excellent tools to monitor nocturnal macro-moth communities. As trap efficiency differs among macro-moth families, care must be taken in relating the abundance of the sample to absolute local abundance. Frequent sampling can provide adequate data on relative temporal change in the local macro-moth fauna, however.

26 species are added to the Portuguese Lepidoptera fauna and three species deleted, mainly as a result of fieldwork undertaken by the authors in 2012. In addition, second and third records for the country and new food-plant data for a number of species are included. A summary of papers mainly published in 2012 affecting the Portuguese fauna is included.

Although intensive forestry practices have greatly reduced the biodiversity of native woodland, sympathetic management offers much potential to reverse these negative trends. We tested, using a species-rich group, whether woodland conservation management practices could be of overall benefit, for threatened generalists and specialists alike. Our landscape-scale light-trap experiment compared presence/absence, abundance and species richness of macro-moths at 36 repeatedly sampled sites from six experimental ‘woodland management’ treatments. We recorded 11,670 individuals from 265 species. Our results show that the sheltered, dark, humid, late-successional, high deciduous forest biotope is characterised by high numbers of both individuals and species of moth, and is especially important for some scarce and specialist species of conservation concern. Coppicing and ride widening, which open up dense forest structures, are also valuable woodland conservation tools for macro-moths. Specifically, we show that the mechanism behind the pattern of increased species richness at the woodland-scale involved an increased structural and hence increased micro-climatic and resource diversity for species with an affinity for more open biotopes. This benefits generalist species of conservation concern. Additionally, we show that woodland area is an important factor affecting both moth abundance and species richness in coppiced plots, especially so for nationally declining and severely declining species, suggesting that larger woodlands offer the best opportunities to increase biodiversity through active coppice management. Based on these complementary findings we recommend zoning woodland conservation management practices to take into account the differential value of successional stages for different ecological groups of Lepidoptera.

Agricultural intensification has contributed to severe declines in odonate (dragonfly and damselfly) populations. Odonates require healthy waterbodies for their larval stages and resource-rich terrestrial landscapes as adults. As such, farmland management at both local and larger landscape scales may be needed to reverse population declines. We sampled odonate adults and exuviae from lowland farmland ponds in England, to investigate relationships between odonate species richness and surrounding land-use. The more mobile dragonflies (Anisoptera) were influenced most strongly by landscape variables at the largest scale (i.e. 1600 m radius), while less mobile damselflies (Zygoptera) were affected by variables at more local scales (i.e. 100/400 m radii). A greater number of landscape variables affected exuvial species richness compared to adult species richness. Exuvial species richness was higher when 2 m wide cross-compliance buffer strips around ponds were present. However, no ponds in the study had buffer strips that were established through England's basic agri-environment scheme (Entry Level Scheme: ELS) agreements, and we observed a negative relationship between ELS area and exuvial species richness. Exuvial species richness increased with the amount of water, but not the number of ponds, in the landscape surrounding a focal pond. The observed odonate responses to local and surrounding land-use lend support to the development of agri-environment scheme policies that encourage landscape-scale, as well as local, scheme implementation and management. We predict that both landscape-scale and quality-targeted management of farmland ponds would benefit odonates, irrespective of mobility level and life-stage.

Improving the effectiveness of agri-environment schemes is essential for reversing declines in farmland biodiversity. Crucial to achieving this is identifying management options that are practical and beneficial to biodiversity, and understanding the influence of the surrounding landscape. We used data on abundance and species richness of farmland macro-moths, many of which are declining, and trait-based analyses on their feeding guild, mobility and conservation status, to explore local- and landscape-scale effects of two farmland features (extended-width field margins and hedgerow trees) and surrounding farmland intensification. Macro-moths were light trapped at 48 fixed sites on 16 farms, over 4 years, within a 1200-km2 area of lowland UK farmland. Sites belonged to one of four experimental groups that differed in their combinations of hedgerow tree presence and field margin width. Hedgerow trees and extended-width field margins locally increased species richness, but not abundance, of macro-moths, irrespective of each other's presence. Overall, species richness and abundance were not affected by agricultural intensification, as measured by the amount of arable land in the surrounding landscape. Sedentary moths showed double the species richness, but were half as abundant as mobile moths. Both groups responded positively to extended-width margin and hedgerow tree presence. The effect of hedgerow trees was particularly strong for shrub- and/or tree-feeding species. Analyses based on the conservation status of moths demonstrated that agricultural intensification lowered the species richness of nationally severely declining UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species and the abundance of both nationally moderately declining and priority species. These effects were most pronounced at the 0·8-km radius scale. Synthesis and applications. Our results suggest that the presence of extended-width field margins and hedgerow trees, possibly promoted by agri-environment schem

We assessed the impact of vegetation structure and type of landscape on microclimatic conditions for flight activity, using the heliothermic butterfly Pararge aegeria as a model. Dummies (i.e., dead specimens with spread wings, on a hypodermic needle with a thermocouple) that initially were warmed up to similar thorax temperatures were able to cover larger distances, and they heated up faster, with higher ambient temperature and with lower wind speed. Convective cooling decreased with increasing degree of shelter, and with lower flight height. Simulated flight bouts bridged 140 +/- 23 m under unsheltered, 81 +/- 13 m under partly sheltered and 29 +/- 6 in under sheltered conditions. Ambient temperature and wind force were higher in highly fragmented, agricultural landscapes than in continuous woodland landscapes. Males, and not females, were furrier in agricultural landscapes. This sexual difference is interpreted in terms of differences in life history among the sexes. (C) 2007 Gesellschaft fur Okologie. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

The ability of an organism to find new habitat is likely to contribute to dispersal success in different landscapes. We compared the ability of male speckled wood butterflies from two types of landscape to orientate towards forested habitat as a behavioural assay of the ability to perceive forested habitat at a distance ( 25-e 200 m). This field release-experiment showed that butterflies of fragmented agricultural landscape origin were better able to orient towards habitat at a greater distance than butterflies of continuous woodland landscape origin. They followed more linear tracks, displayed flight angles that deviated less from orientation towards habitat, and showed orientations that were significantly directed towards habitat at greater distances than butterflies of continuous landscape origin. Attraction was facilitated when target habitat had a high pro. le. Our behavioural experiment provides novel insights into landscape connectivity and points to interpopulation differences in the ability to find habitat associated with landscape type. (c) 2007 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In evolutionary time, varying environments may lead to different morphs as a result of genetic adaptation and divergence or phenotypic plasticity. Landscapes that differ in the extent of habitat fragmentation may provide different selection regimes for dispersal, but also for other ecological functions. Several studies on flying insects have shown differences in flight morphology between landscapes, but whether such differences result from plastic responses have rarely been tested. We did a reciprocal transplant experiment with offspring of speckled wood butterfly females (Parargeaegeria) from three types of landscape differing in fragmentation: woodland landscape, landscape with woodland fragments and agricultural landscape with only hedgerows. Young caterpillars were allowed to grow individually on potted host grasses in small enclosures under the three landscape conditions (split-brood design). Mortality in caterpillars was much higher in agricultural landscape compared to the other landscapes. Additive to the effect of landscape of development, landscape of origin also affected mortality rate in a similar way. Flight morphology of the adults resulting from the experiment differed significantly with landscape. Independent of the landscape of origin, males and females that developed in agricultural landscape were the heaviest and had the greatest wing loadings. Females that developed in agricultural landscape had higher relative thorax mass (i.e. greater flight muscle allocation) in line with adaptive predictions on altered dispersal behaviour with type of landscape. In males, relative thorax mass did not respond significantly relative to landscape of development, but males originating from landscape with woodland fragments allocated more into their thorax compared to males from the other types. We found significant G×E interactions for total dry mass and wing loading. Our results suggest the existence of phenotypic plasticity in butterfly flight morphology associ

1 Active time budgets of flying ectotherms depend on body temperature. Knowledge of flight ability and performance is currently heavily biased towards the range of temperatures favourable for voluntary flight activity. Flight under suboptimal temperature conditions may also be important, however, in terms of fitness. 2 Here we study the ability of organisms to fly at body temperatures colder than those at which flight is initiated voluntarily, and the duration of such flights. Laboratory-reared Pararge aegeria (L.) butterflies that originated from woodland and agricultural landscape were tested at five temperatures (range: 10–21 °C) in a common-garden set-up. 3 We predict that males are able to fly at lower temperatures than females as males have lower wing loading (i.e. body mass/wing area). Since woodland is on average cooler than agricultural landscape we also predict that flight ability at low temperature is better developed in woodland individuals. 4 Individuals showed an ability to fly at all tested temperatures and flights were longer with increasing temperature. Males flew for longer than females. There was no difference in flight duration between sexes at the lowest temperature, but an increasing difference with increasing temperature. We showed that woodland butterflies flew for longer and had higher wing loading than agricultural landscape butterflies. 5 Our results shed new light on the thermal ecology of flight at suboptimal temperatures and are discussed from both proximate and ultimate points of view.