ISSN:
1572-9753
Keywords:
environmental gradient
;
extinction
;
conservation
;
persistence
;
parasite
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Nature of Science, Research, Systems of Higher Education, Museum Science
Notes:
Abstract The lycaenid butterfly, Maculinea rebeli, and its specialist parasitoid, Ichneumon eumerus, live in small, closed populations. Given the threatened status of the butterfly, it is reasonable to assume that its specialist parasitoid is even more vulnerable to local extinction than the butterfly host. Based on a mechanistic model recently developed for the tightly-woven community surrounding M. rebeli at a site in the Spanish Pyrenees, we investigate how the removal of habitat, and more particularly, specific habitat promoting the persistence of the butterfly, affects the population persistence of the parasitoid. Because of the relatively small impact of the parasitoid on the butterfly population in the Spanish Pyrenees, guidelines for conserving the parasitoid are only slightly more restrictive than those for its host. It is argued that at sites of more marginal quality for the butterfly than the reference site, achieving the dual aims of conserving both species will be more problematic. © Rapid Science Ltd. 1998
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1009644807126
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