Why small cold‐blooded insects pose different conservation problems to birds in modern landscapes

摘要: Butterflies and other insects have declined more rapidly than birds over parts of southwest Europe this century, early attempts to conserve them often failed. Failure occurred mainly because reserve managers did not cater for three differences in their needs compared with those vertebrates: (1) Many occupy very narrow specific niches within biotopes, associated an ephemeral successional stage; (2) although insect population can sometimes be supported by a small (<1 ha) patch its habitat, individual habitat may remain suitable no 3–10 years (3) several species are too sedentary colonize new patches that arise farther 300 m-1 km from old ones during the period each remains breeding. Further complications dependency some on temperature bands, especially northwest where many reach edges range locked into warm, anthropogenic habitats. The same broader or different south, habitats require management across geographical ranges. Despite these problems, conservationists had considerable success maintaining populations threatened nature reserves, once knowledge ecology dynamics was applied site management.