Moderate mobility and high density in a small area: the population ecology of the marsh fritillary Euphydryas aurinia in Transylvania (Romania)

The Natura 2000 network is one of the most important tools for nature conservation in the EU. Therefore, knowledge of the ecology of the species listed on the Habitats Directive annexes is of particular relevance. One of these species is the butterfly Euphydryas aurinia. Much is already known about the ecology of this species at the European level, but information on Romania is scarce. Therefore, in a study area northwest of Cluj, the species was intensively studied in a mark-release-recapture study over its entire flight period. The investigated population harboured many individuals and had a high density. The dispersal behaviour of the individuals was somewhat more pronounced than in Mediterranean and partly also high alpine populations, but roughly comparable to other populations of the nominotypic subspecies. Overall, the ecological differences to Central and Western European populations were not very pronounced, and many of the conservation-relevant statements on this species in Central Europe should also be largely valid in Romania.

Transdisciplinary deficit in large carnivore conservation funding in Europe

Achieving coexistence between humans and large carnivores in human-shaped landscapes is a complex challenge. Addressing this challenge requires the revaluation of the approaches academia uses to foster carnivore conservation and human-large carnivore coexistence. In this forum paper, we provide a brief overview of the three archetypical approaches of knowledge generation for large carnivore conservation in human dominated landscapes (disciplinary, interdisciplinary and emerging transdisciplinary approaches) and highlight the need for more explicit consideration of transdisciplinarity in large carnivore conservation funding. We refer to transdisciplinary deficit (TDD) for those situations when the context allows the implementation of transdisciplinarity but research and practice remains disciplinary or interdisciplinary. We identify drivers of this TDD and provide a brief overview of current and past conservation funding programmes at the European level in terms of their capacity to promote transdisciplinary approaches for large carnivore conservation. We show that current funding programmes favour sectorial and disciplinary approaches, resulting in low transdisciplinary substance in large carnivore conservation projects. TDD can be overcome by transforming the character of public funding towards multi-stakeholder collaboration, designing and nurturing effective communities of practice, and reducing co-financing rates for large, integrated projects.

Dispersal and adaptation strategies of the high mountain butterfly Boloria pales in the Romanian Carpathians

Background

Habitat quality is one main trigger for the persistence of butterflies. The effects of the influencing biotic and abiotic factors may be enhanced by the challenging conditions in high-alpine environments. To better our knowledge in this field, we performed a mark-release-recapture study with Boloria pales in the Southern Carpathians.

Methods

We analysed population structure, movement and foraging behaviour to investigate special adaptations to the alpine environment and to reveal differences between sexes. We compared these aspects in one sector with and one sector without grazing to address the effects of grazing intensity on habitat quality.

Results

We observed "soft" protandry, in which only a small number of males appeared before females, and an extended emergence of individuals over the observed flight period, dividing the population's age structure into three phases; both observations are considered adaptations to high mountain environments. Although both sexes were mostly sedentary, movement differences between them were obvious. Males flew larger distances than females and were more flight-active. This might explain the dimorphism in foraging behaviour: males preferred nectar sources of Asteraceae, females Caprifoliaceae. Transition from the grazed to the ungrazed sector was only observed for males and not for females, but the population density was higher and the flight distances of the individuals were significantly longer on the grazed sector compared with the ungrazed one.

Conclusion

Soft protandry, an extended emergence of the individuals and an adapted behavioural dimorphism between sexes render to represent a good adaptation of B. pales to the harsh environmental conditions of high mountain ecosystems. However, land-use intensity apparently has severe influence on population densities and movement behaviour. To protect B. pales and other high-alpine species from the negative consequences of overgrazing, areas without or just light grazing are needed.

Lock-picks: fungal infection facilitates the intrusion of strangers into ant colonies

Studies investigating host-parasite systems rarely deal with multispecies interactions, and mostly explore impacts on hosts as individuals. Much less is known about the effects at colony level, when parasitism involves host organisms that form societies. We surveyed the effect of an ectoparasitic fungus, Rickia wasmannii, on kin-discrimination abilities of its host ant, Myrmica scabrinodis, identifying potential consequences at social level and subsequent changes in colony infiltration success of other organisms. Analyses of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), known to be involved in insects' discrimination processes, revealed variations in chemical profiles correlated with the infection status of the ants, that could not be explained by genetic variation tested by microsatellites. In behavioural assays, fungus-infected workers were less aggressive towards both non-nestmates and unrelated queens, enhancing the probability of polygyny. Likewise, parasitic larvae of Maculinea butterflies had a higher chance of adoption by infected colonies. Our study indicates that pathogens can modify host recognition abilities, making the society more prone to accept both conspecific and allospecific organisms.

Environmental determinants of the old oaks in wood-pastures from a changing traditional social-ecological system of Romania

Large, old trees are keystone ecological structures, their decline having disproportional ecological consequences. There is virtually no information available regarding the status and occurrence of old trees in traditional cultural landscapes from Eastern Europe. In this study, we explore the environmental determinants of the old oaks found in wood-pastures from a changing traditional rural landscape from Central Romania. Both the old oaks and the wood-pastures harboring them have exceptional cultural, historical, and ecological values, yet are vulnerable to land-use change. We surveyed 41 wood-pastures from Southern Transylvania and counted the old oaks in them. We then related the number of old oaks from these wood-pastures to a set of local and landscape level variables related to wood-pastures. We found 490 old oaks in 25 wood-pastures. The number of old oaks was positively related to the size of the wood-pasture and the amount of pasture and forest around it (500 m buffer), and negatively related to the proximity of the village. Furthermore, we found a significant interaction between the effects of sheepfolds in the wood-pasture and the size of the wood-pasture on the number of old trees, indicating a negative influence of sheepfolds on the number of old trees in smaller sized wood-pastures. There is an increasing risk for losing old trees in the traditional cultural landscapes due to the lack of formal recognition of these trees. Therefore, while presenting the positive example of local initiatives and citizen science, we argue for an urgent development and implementation of conservation policies along with education strategies targeting the old trees and rural communities from the changing traditional cultural landscapes of Eastern Europe.

Three in One--Multiple Faunal Elements within an Endangered European Butterfly Species

Ice ages within Europe forced many species to retreat to refugia, of which three major biogeographic basic types can be distinguished: "Mediterranean", "Continental" and "Alpine / Arctic" species. However, this classification often fails to explain the complex phylogeography of European species with a wide range of latitudinal and altitudinal distribution. Hence, we tested for the possibility that all three mentioned faunal elements are represented within one species. Our data was obtained by scoring 1,307 Euphydryas aurinia individuals (46 European locations) for 17 allozyme loci, and sequencing a subset of 492 individuals (21 sites) for a 626 base pairs COI fragment. Genetic diversity indices, F statistics, hierarchical analyses of molecular variance, individual-based clustering, and networks were used to explore the phylogeographic patterns. The COI fragment represented 18 haplotypes showing a strong geographic structure. All but one allozyme loci analysed were polymorphic with a mean F_ST of 0.20, supporting a pronounced among population structure. Interpretation of both genetic marker systems, using several analytical tools, calls for the recognition of twelve genetic groups. These analyses consistently distinguished different groups in Iberia (2), Italy, Provence, Alps (3), Slovenia, Carpathian Basin, the lowlands of West and Central Europe as well as Estonia, often with considerable additional substructures. The genetic data strongly support the hypothesis that E. aurinia survived the last glaciation in Mediterranean, extra-Mediterranean and perialpine refugia. It is thus a rare example of a model organism that combines attributes of faunal elements from all three of these sources. The observed differences between allozymes and mtDNA most likely result from recent introgression of mtDNA into nuclear allozyme groups. Our results indicate discrepancies with the morphologically-based subspecies models, underlining the need to revise the current taxonomy.