Monitoring of butterfly populations
28 August 2018
LIFE Montserrat works on a wide range of biodiversity monitoring indicators. One of them is the Catalan Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (CBMS) based on butterfly species.
CBMS provides annual data on the population status of butterflies from the weekly repetition of censuses in fixed-route transects, allowing us to relate local changes in the abundance of the species with environmental factors and even to assess the progress of the initiatives carried out to conserve biodiversity.
Butterflies become good biological indicators for several reasons:
- They show great sensitivity to vegetation composition and structure
- They react rapidly to changes in environmental conditions
- They have a key role within the ecosystem as primary consumers (herbivores) and as a food source for many other organisms
- They are quite easy to see and identify
LIFE Montserrat’s Butterfly monitoring is being developed in two different areas: Puigventós (between Olesa de Montserrat and Vacarisses) and Serra dels Gatells (between Esparreguera and Collbató). In both sectors, transects have been selected to sample evenly the habitat types (meadows, scrubland, forest, rocky areas) and management activity (forestry work, prescribed burning, grazing) on sites. Each transect is visited weekly between March and September. Transects are fixed-route walks which are established at a site on which butterflies are recorded along the route through visual censuses.
Data collected so far show that the greatest butterfly abundances are found in meadows, especially where grazing activity is underway, pointing to the importance of open areas for biodiversity conservation in Mediterranean environments.
- Categories:
- Monitoring
- Periods:
- August
Gracias, hemos recibido tu comentario.