Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 325, Issue 5936, Pages 80-83Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1175726
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Funding
- European Union Macman and Biodiversa (CLIMIT) programs
- Natural England
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
- National Trust
- Somerset Wildlife Trust
- Network Rail
- J and F Clark Trust
- Butterfly Conservation
- Gloucester Wildlife Trust
- Millfield School
- Defra
- World Wildlife Fund
- Holland and Barrett
- Hydrex
- ICI
- Natural Environment Research Council [CEH010021] Funding Source: researchfish
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Globally threatened butterflies have prompted research-based approaches to insect conservation. Here, we describe the reversal of the decline of Maculinea arion (Large Blue), a charismatic specialist whose larvae parasitize Myrmica ant societies. M. arion larvae were more specialized than had previously been recognized, being adapted to a single host-ant species that inhabits a narrow niche in grassland. Inconspicuous changes in grazing and vegetation structure caused host ants to be replaced by similar but unsuitable congeners, explaining the extinction of European Maculinea populations. Once this problem was identified, UK ecosystems were perturbed appropriately, validating models predicting the recovery and subsequent dynamics of the butterfly and ants at 78 sites. The successful identification and reversal of the problem provide a paradigm for other insect conservation projects.
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