Eur. J. Entomol. 105 (4): 649-657, 2008 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2008.089

Resources for British butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea, Papilionoidea). The alien consumer component and its significance for butterfly habitats

Peter B. HARDY1, Roger L.H. DENNIS*,2
1 81 Winstanley Road, Sale M33 2AT, UK
2 NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 2LS, U.K. and Institute for Environment, Sustainability and Regeneration, Mellor Building, Staffordshire University, College Road, Stoke on Trent, ST4 2DE, UK

With climatic warming there is an expectation that phytophagous insects will increasingly use alien (non native) plants as nectar sources and larval host plants. Alien plant use is investigated in British butterflies. Butterflies are considered to be larval host plant specialists relative to their use of nectar plants. Supporting this view, use of alien plants as nectar sources (50.1%, 27 novel plant families) is almost twice that of their use as larval host plants (21.6%; three novel plant families). Some 80% of the variation in percent alien nectar plant use is accounted against 30% of that for percent alien host plant use. The key variable accounting for alien plant use is butterfly mobility. Other prominent variables that facilitate access to alien nectar plants are southern distributions, longer adult life span, host plants in garden biotopes. A different set of variables additionally account for alien host plant exploitation (% alien host plant use: woody host plants; number of alien host plants: polyphagy; greater abundance of native host plants in gardens). Although threatened butterfly species do not depend on alien plants, this may well reflect on specialisation in resource use accompanying habitat fragmentation and an inability to use novel resources that are becoming increasingly available. Detailed study of alien resources is advocated to assess the importance of alien plant resources for phytophagous insects.

Keywords: Lepidoptera, biotope, distributions, habitat, gardens, geographical range, introductions, migration

Received: March 26, 2008; Revised: May 5, 2008; Accepted: May 5, 2008; Published: October 24, 2008  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
HARDY, P.B., & DENNIS, R.L.H. (2008). Resources for British butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea, Papilionoidea). The alien consumer component and its significance for butterfly habitats. EJE, 105(4), 649-657. doi: 10.14411/eje.2008.089
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. ASHER J., WARREN M., FOX R., HARDING P., JEFFCOATE G. & JEFFCOATE S. 2001: The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 433 pp
    2. BOWERS M.D., COLLINGE S.K., GAMBLE S.E. & SCHMITT J. 1992a: Effects of genotype, habitat, and seasonal variation on iridoid glycoside content of Plantago lanceolata (Plantaginaceae) and the implications for insect herbivores. Oecologia 91: 201-207 Go to original source...
    3. BOWERS M.D., STAMP N.E. & COLLINGE S.K. 1992b: Early stage of host range expansion by a specialist herbivore, Euphydryas phaeton (Nymphalidae). Ecology 73: 526-536 Go to original source...
    4. CHYTRY M., MASKELL L.C., PINO J., PYSEK P., VILA M., FONT X. & SMART S.M. 2008: Habitat invasions by alien plants: a quantitative comparison among Mediterranean, subcontinental and oceanic regions of Europe. J. Appl. Ecol. 45: 448-458 Go to original source...
    5. CIzEK L., FRIC Z. & KONVICKA M. 2006: Host plant defences and voltinism in European butterflies. Ecol. Entomol. 31: 337-344 Go to original source...
    6. CORBET S.A. 2000: Butterfly nectaring flowers: butterfly morphology and flower form. Entomol. Exp. Appl. 96: 289-298 Go to original source...
    7. DAWKINS R. & KREBS J.R. 1979: Arms races between and within species. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. (B) 205: 489-511 Go to original source...
    8. DENNIS R.L.H. 1977: The British Butterflies. Their Origin and Establishment. Classey, Faringdon, 318 pp
    9. DENNIS R.L.H. 1993: Butterflies and Climate Change. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 302 pp
    10. DENNIS R.L.H., HODGSON J.G., GRENYER R., SHREEVE T.G. & ROY D.B. 2004: Host plants and butterfly biology. Do host-plant strategies drive butterfly status? Ecol. Entomol. 29: 12-26 Go to original source...
    11. DENNIS R.L.H., HARDY P.B. & SHREEVE T.G. 2008: The importance of resource databanks for conserving insects: a butterfly biology perspective. J. Insect Conserv. DOI 10.1007.s10841007-9112-7 Go to original source...
    12. DITOMMASO A., LAWLOR F.M. & DARBYSHIRE S.J. 2005: The biology of invasive alien plants in Canada. 2. Cynanchum rossicum (Kleopow) Borhidi [= Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleopow) Barbar.] and Cynanchum louiseae (L.) Kartesz & Gandhi [= Vincetoxicum nigrum (L.) Moench]. Can. J. Plant Sci. 85: 243-263 Go to original source...
    13. EHRLICH P.R. & RAVEN P.H. 1965: Butterflies and plants: a study in coevolution. Evolution 18: 586-608 Go to original source...
    14. FOX R., ASHER J., BRERETON T.M., ROY D.B. & WARREN M.S. 2006: The State of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland. Pisces Publications, Newbury, 112 pp
    15. FOXCROFT L.C., RICHARDSON D.M. & WILSON J.R.U. 2008: Ornamental plants as invasive aliens: problems and solutions in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Environ. Manag. 41: 32-51. Go to original source...
    16. GODWIN H. 1984: History of the British Flora. A Factual Basis for Phytogeography. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 541 pp
    17. GRAVES S.D. & SHAPIRO A.M. 2003: Exotics as host plants of the California butterfly fauna. Biol. Conserv. 110: 413-433 Go to original source...
    18. GUTIERREZ D. & THOMAS C.D. 2000: Marginal range expansion in a host-limited butterfly species Gonepteryx rhamni. Ecol. Entomol. 25: 165-170 Go to original source...
    19. HARDY P.B. & DENNIS R.L.H. 2008: Shifting butterfly habitats and biotope affiliations accompany use of alien nectar sources after deforestation. Acta Zool. Sin. 54: 77-83
    20. HARDY P.B., SPARKS T.H., ISAAC N.J.B. & DENNIS R.L.H. 2007: Resource databanks for butterflies: the state of British larval and adult food source data and implications for butterfly conservation. Biol. Conserv. 138: 440-452 Go to original source...
    21. KEMP R., HARDY P.B., ROY D., DENNIS R.L.H. 2008: The relative exploitation of annuals as larval host plants by phytophagous Lepidoptera. J. Nat. Hist. 42: 1079-1093 Go to original source...
    22. JUTZELER D., HOETTINGER H., MALICKY M., REBEUSEK F., SALA G. & VEROVNIK R. 2000: Biology of Neptis sappho (Pallas, 1771) based on the monograph by Timpe & Timpe (1993) and its actual distribution and conservation status in Austria, Italy and Slovenia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Linn. Belg. 17: 315-330
    23. KENT D.H. 1992: List of Vascular Plants of the British Isles. Botanical Society of the British Isles, London, 384 pp
    24. KENIS M., RABITSCH W., AUGER-ROZENBERG M.A. & ROQUES A. 2007: How can alien species inventories and interception data help us prevent insect invasions? Bull. Entomol. Res. 97: 489-502 Go to original source...
    25. PORTER K., STEEL C.A. & THOMAS J.A. 1992: Butterflies and communities. In Dennis R.L.H. (ed.) Ecology of Butterflies in Britain. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 139-177 Go to original source...
    26. PRYKE S.R. & SAMWAYS M.J. 2003: Quality of remnant indigenous grassland linkages for adult butterflies (Lepidoptera) in an afforested African landscape. Biodiv. Conserv. 12: 1985-2004 Go to original source...
    27. REBELO A.G. 1992: Red Data Book species in the Cape Floristic Region - threats, prioirities and target species. Trans. R. Soc. Sth. Afr. 48: 55-86 Go to original source...
    28. RICKLEFS R.E., GUO Q.F. & QIAN H. 2008: Growth form and distribution of introduced plants in their native and non-native ranges in Eastern Asia and North America. Divers. Distrib. 14: 381-386 Go to original source...
    29. SINGER M.C., THOMAS C.D. & PARMESAN C. 1993: Rapid humaninduced evolution of insect host associations. Nature 366: 681-683 Go to original source...
    30. SMITH R.M., BAKER R.H.A., MALUMPHY C.P., HOCKLAND S., HAMMON R.P., OSTOJA-STARZEWSKI J.C. & COLLINS D.W. 2007: Recent non-native invertebrate plant pest establishments in Great Britain: origins, pathways, and trends. Agri. For. Entomol. 9: 307-326 Go to original source...
    31. STACE C. 1997: New Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1130 pp
    32. THOMAS C.D., BODSWORTH E.J., WILSON R.J., SIMMONS A.D., DAVIES Z.G., MUSCHE M. & CONRADT L. 2001: Ecological and evolutionary processes at expanding range margins. Nature 411: 577-581 Go to original source...
    33. WELLS F.H. & LAUENROTH W.K. 2007: The potential for horses to disperse alien plants along recreational trails. Rang. Ecol. Manag. 60: 574-577 Go to original source...
    34. WIKLUND C. 1981: Generalist vs. specialist oviposition behaviour in Papilio machaon (Lepidoptera) and functional aspects on the hierarchy of oviposition preferences. Oikos 36: 163-170 Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content