Contribution of Urban Expansion and a Changing Climate to Decline of a Butterfly Fauna

摘要: Butterfly populations are naturally patchy and undergo extinctions recolonizations. Analyses based on more than 2 decades of data California's Central Valley butterfly fauna show a net loss in species richness through time. We analyzed 22 years phenological faunistic for butterflies to investigate patterns over then used 18-22 changes regional land use 37 seasonal climate develop an explanatory model. The model related the effects land-use patterns, from working landscapes (farm ranchland) urban suburban landscapes, changing richness. Additionally, we investigated local trends climate. A decline area farmland ranchland, increase minimum temperatures during summer maximum fall negatively affected richness, whereas increased spring greater precipitation previous positively According model, there was threshold between 30% 40% working-landscape below which further had proportionally effect Some isolated warming acted opposition affect Three 4 variables that most showed systematic (spring mean temperatures). Higher were associated with higher year lower rainfall linked Patterns contributed declines (although pattern not linear), but difficult discern.