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Originally published in Science Express on 18 June 2009
Science 3 July 2009:
Vol. 325. no. 5936, pp. 80 - 83
DOI: 10.1126/science.1175726
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Reports

Successful Conservation of a Threatened Maculinea Butterfly

J. A. Thomas,1,2,* D. J. Simcox,2 R. T. Clarke2,3

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 provides a paradigm for other insect conservation projects.

1 Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK.
2 Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, UK.
3 Centre for Conservation Ecology and Environmental Change, School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Talbot Campus, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jeremy.thomas{at}zoo.ox.ac.uk

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)