Rare Butterflies Are Poor Urbanites

Ecologists have unlocked the secret lives of butterflies fluttering around Hong Kong’s parks, providing insight into how rare species are affected by urbanization.

AsianScientist (Oct. 5, 2016) – Want to see some exotic butterflies flutter by? Make sure you plant enough flowers, according to a study published in Landscape Ecology. The research revealed that plant cover and floral density are important determinants of communities of common urban butterfly species, while spatial properties were important for rare species.

Hong Kong is home to a dazzling diversity of over 250 butterfly species, many of which can be found during a casual walk through urban parks in the city. In their study, Dr. Timothy Bonebrake, assistant professor at the School of Biological Sciences and head of the Global Change and Tropical Conservation Laboratory in the University of Hong Kong and PhD student Toby Tsang, counted 1,485 individuals and 51 butterfly species present inside the parks of Kowloon. They found that for common butterfly species in Hong Kong urban parks, more flowers and greater plant cover around parks were associated with higher numbers of species.

The results of this study suggest that urban park environmental design likely affects which common butterfly species anyone might see on a given day. However, encouraging rare butterfly species to populate urban parks might be more difficult.

“A prominent feature of urban ecosystems is the high degree of disturbance, including insect spraying, vegetation trimming, and human traffic through the parks,” said Bonebrake. “Whereas in more natural ecosystems rare species might be able to establish populations in small habitat patches, we find that rare species in Hong Kong urban parks are likely unable to persist in the parks long-term.”

A key question that remains is how butterflies make use of urban parks. The authors speculate that urban park butterflies, like their human counterparts, have commuted to these urban centers and are just passing through. In any case, this research sheds light into the secret lives of urban butterflies and provides insight into management of those species.


The article can be found at: Tsang & Bonebrake (2016) Contrasting Roles of Environmental and Spatial Processes for Common and Rare Urban Butterfly Species Compositions.

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Source: University of Hong Kong.
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