Intensification of agriculture and forestry during the last century has led to loss of grasslands and meadows, both important habitats for butterflies. Several studies show that different biotopes in the swedish forest also can be suitable habitats for butterflies, and that is what I am focusing on in my study. This study was conducted in the area of Bergslagen, Sweden. The area is dominated by production forests, mainly consisting of pine and spruce, along with clear cuts, peatland, lakes and agricultural areas. The aim of the study was to investigate if and in which way species, species diversity and number of individuals of butterflies are affected by fragmentation in the surrounding landscape. I was focusing on habitat area and number of patches. Landscape composition in an area of 1500 m in radius around each of the 12 transects were studied. Nine species in total was found. Gonepteryx rhamni increased in number of individuals with increasing area of peatland and higher number of peatland patches, they also increased in individuals with higher number of water patches. Pieris napi decreased in individuals with increasing area of water. Plebejus idas and Plebejus argus decreased in number of individuals with higher number of forest patches, clear cut patches and patches of open land, they also decreased in individuals with increasing number of patches in total. Species diversity also decreased with increasing number of forest patches. Responses to fragmentation seem to be very species specific, some species responded positively to habitat area and number of patches while some responded negatively and some did not respond at all. My results show that some butterfly species in Bergslagen are affected by fragmentation and it is important to take on a landscape approach in conservation of butterflies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hh-38881 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Mård, Adam |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för ekonomi, teknik och naturvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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