Melitaea

Abstract: 1. Recent studies on butterflies have documented apparent evolutionary changes in dispersal rate in response to climate change and habitat change. These studies often assume a trade-off between dispersal rate (or flight capacity) and reproduction, which is the rule in wing-dimorphic species but might not occur equally in wing-monomorphic species such as butterflies. 2. To investigate the relationship between dispersal rate and fecundity in the Glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia we recorded lifetime individual movements, matings, ovipositions, and maximal life span in a large (32 x 26 m) population cage in the field. Experimental material was obtained from 20 newly established and 20 old local populations within a large metapopulation in the Aland Islands in Finland. 3. Females of the Glanville fritillary from newly established populations are known to be more dispersive in the field, and in the cage they showed significantly greater mobility, mated earlier, and laid more egg clutches than females from old populations. The dispersive females from new populations exhibited no reduced lifetime fecundity in the cage, but they had a shorter maximal life span than old-population females. 4. These results challenge the dispersal-fecundity trade-off for nonmigratory butterflies but instead suggest a physiological trade-off between high metabolic performance and reduced maximal life span. High metabolic performance may explain high rates of dispersal and oviposition in early life. 5. In fragmented landscapes, an ecological trade-off exists between being more dispersive and hence spending more time in the landscape matrix vs. having more time for reproduction in the habitat. We estimate with a dispersal model parameterized for the Glanville fritillary that the lifetime egg production is 4% smaller on average in the more dispersive butterflies in a representative landscape, with much variation depending on landscape structure in the neighbourhood of the natal patch, from--26 to 45% in the landscape analysed in this paper.

Abstract: Species living in highly fragmented landscapes often occur as metapopulations with frequent population turnover. Turnover rate is known to depend on ecological factors, such as population size and connectivity, but it may also be influenced by the phenotypic and genotypic composition of populations. The Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) in Finland uses two host‐plant species that vary in their relative abundances among distinct habitat patches (dry meadows) in a large network of ∼1,700 patches. We found no effect of host species use on local extinction. In contrast, population establishment was strongly influenced by the match between the host species composition of an empty habitat patch and the relative host use by larvae in previous years in the habitat patches that were well connected to the target patch. This “colonization effect” could be due to spatially variable plant acceptability or resistance or to spatially variable insect oviposition preference or larval performance. ...

Abstract: We studied the patterns and rates of migration among habitat patches for five species of checkerspot butterflies (Lepidoptera: Melitaeini) in Finland: Euphydryas aurinia, E. maturna, Melitaea cinxia, M. diamina and M. athalia. We applied the virtual migration (VM) model to mark-release-recapture data collected from multiple populations. The model includes parameters describing migration and survival rates and how they depend on the areas and connectivities of habitat patches. The number of individuals captured varied from 73 to 1,123, depending on species and sex, and the daily recapture probabilities varied between 0.09-0.52. The VM model fitted the data quite well. The results show that the five species are broadly similar in their movement rates and patterns, though, e.g. E. maturna tends to move shorter distances than the other species. There is no indication of any phylogenetic component in the parameter values. The parameter values estimated for each species suggest that a large percentage (80-90%) of migration events were successful in the landscapes that were studied. The area of the habitat patch had a substantial effect on emigration and immigration rates, such that butterflies were more likely to leave small than large patches and large patches were more likely than small patches to receive immigrants.

Abstract: We used harmonic radar to track freely flying Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) females within an area of 30 ha Butterflies originated from large and continuous populations in China and Estonia, and from newly established or old (> 5 years) small local populations in a highly fragmented landscape in Finland Caterpillars were raised under common garden conditions and unmated females were tested soon after eclosion The reconstructed flight paths for 66 individuals comprised a total distance of 51 km with high spatial resolution Butterflies originating from large continuous populations and from old local populations in Finland exhibited similar movement behaviors, whereas butterflies originating from newly established local populations in the fragmented landscape in Finland moved significantly more than the others There was no difference in the lengths of individual flight bouts, but the new-population females flew more frequently, resulting in longer daily movement tracks The flight activity of all individuals was affected by environmental conditions, peaking at 19–23°C (depending on population type), in the early afternoon, and during calm weather Butterflies from all population types showed a strong tendency to follow habitat edges between the open study area and the neighboring woodlands