Severe decline of butterflies on German calcareous grasslands during the last 30 years

A study of the species composition of seven calcareous grassland remnants in south-western Germany in 1972 and 2001 revealed a strong change in the community composition and a severe decline in species richness of butterflies.
In general, the incidence of the autochthonous non-ubiquitous species declined by more than 50%, whereas ubiquitous species showed no significant difference in numbers during this period. Especially affected by the decline were those species which need structured habitats, those which are poor dispersers, species which need habitat sizes of 16 ha and more, monophagous species, K strategists and Red Data Book species.

Authors: Wenzel M et al. (2006) Biological Conservation 128: 542-552
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