Effect of cultivating croplands and grazing in arid grassland habitats on the conservation of melitaeine butterflies in a mountainous area in Northern China  

作　　者：WANG YiFei1,2, CHEN JieJun1,3, LIU WenHua1,4 & XU RuMei1 1 Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China 2 Forestry Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100091, China 3 China National Center for Biotechnology Development, Ministry of Science and Technology, Beijing 100081, China 4 Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou 510300, China 

出　　处：《Science China(Life Sciences)》2007年第1期40-46,共7页中国科学（生命科学英文版）

基　　金：the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 39893360 and 30270241);the Chinese Ministry of Education (Grant No. 272007)

摘　　要：In the study area (Yanjiaping Village, Hebei Province, China), grazing extensity varies at different loca-tions, small and discontinuous croplands are imbedded in some arid grassland, which are habitats for the melitaeine butterflies, Euphydryas aurinia and Melitaea phoebe. These two species of butterflies coexist in this area, in which grazing and cultivation are the main disturbances. Grazing and cultivation have a reciprocal effect on E. aurinia, rather than M. phoebe. We observed that E. aurinia preferred to occupy patches with moderate grazing and imbedded with small and discontinuous croplands, where E. aurinia also has high population density. The percentage of E. aurinia larval groups in the ribbings was significantly higher than that of M. phoebe, whereas larvae of both species tended to increase in recent years. Our data also showed that the population density and the patch occupancy rate of both E. aurinia and M. phoebe were the highest under moderate grazing. It indicates that cultivation of small and dis-continuous croplands within the patch has a significant effect on the population density of both spe-cies of melitaeine butterflies. Thus, to artificially create or maintain semi-natural habitats, comple-mented by moderate grazing, might be an ecological strategy to conserve melitaeine butterflies effec-tively. Considering the distinct impacts of cultivation and grazing on the population distribution and dynamics of the two different species, human disturbance in the mountainous area might be strategi-cally involved in proposing conservation plans for the target species in the future.In the study area (Yanjiaping Village, Hebei Province, China), grazing extensity varies at different loca-tions, small and discontinuous croplands are imbedded in some arid grassland, which are habitats for the melitaeine butterflies, Euphydryas aurinia and Melitaea phoebe. These two species of butterflies coexist in this area, in which grazing and cultivation are the main disturbances. Grazing and cultivation have a reciprocal effect on E. aurinia, rather than M. phoebe. We observed that E. aurinia preferred to occupy patches with moderate grazing and imbedded with small and discontinuous croplands, where E. aurinia also has high population density. The percentage of E. aurinia larval groups in the ribbings was significantly higher than that of M. phoebe, whereas larvae of both species tended to increase in recent years. Our data also showed that the population density and the patch occupancy rate of both E. aurinia and M. phoebe were the highest under moderate grazing. It indicates that cultivation of small and dis-continuous croplands within the patch has a significant effect on the population density of both spe-cies of melitaeine butterflies. Thus, to artificially create or maintain semi-natural habitats, comple-mented by moderate grazing, might be an ecological strategy to conserve melitaeine butterflies effec-tively. Considering the distinct impacts of cultivation and grazing on the population distribution and dynamics of the two different species, human disturbance in the mountainous area might be strategi-cally involved in proposing conservation plans for the target species in the future.

关 键 词：GRAZING croplands METAPOPULATION CONSERVATION Euphydryas aurinia Melitaea PHOEBE 

分 类 号：S186[农业科学—农业基础科学]