Use of road verges by butterfly and burnet populations, and the effect of roads on adult dispersal and mortality.

  1. Transects made beside 12 main roads in Dorset and Hampshire (UK) showed that verges and central reservations supported a wide variety of butterflies and burnets (Zygaenidae). One site had 23 species of butterfly (=40% of British species), while the average was nine (16%) species per 100-m transect. Most were common species, but some rarities were present. 2. Mark-recapture estimates of adult densities on verges were up to 2774 adults ha-1 for Maniola jurtina. Populations of Melanargia galathea, Pieris rapae and Polyommatus icarus were large or medium-sized for these species. 3. Variation in the number of species, density and diversity of butterflies and burnets depended on the range of breeding habitats on verges. The density of adults and number of species were correlated with verge width, while diversity was correlated with the abundance of nectar. The amount of traffic had no apparent effect on …

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Munguira M.L. y Thomas J.A. Use of road verges by butterfly and burnet populations and the effect of roads on adult dispersal and mortality. JSTOR, 1992. https://doi.org/10.2307/2404501

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Resource type Text
Date of creation 2025-05-23
Date of last revision 2025-05-23
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Metadata identifier 6ef7233b-cf39-5478-b70a-1d410f9b5a76
Metadata language Spanish
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ISO 19115 topic category biota
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Name of the dataset creator Munguira, M.L. y Thomas, J.A.
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Other identifier DOI: 10.2307/2404501
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