Conservation in a city: Do the same principles apply to different taxa?

Factors shaping overall species richness and representation of endangered species of vascular flora and butterflies were determined in 48 nature reserves in Prague, Czech Republic. Total species richness of both groups, and the presence of endangered butterflies, reflect the present status of habita...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological conservation 2011, Vol.144 (1), p.490-499
Main Authors: Jarošík, Vojtěch, Konvička, Martin, Pyšek, Petr, Kadlec, Tomáš, Beneš, Jiří
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Butterflies
Conservation
Conservation management
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Endangered species
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Habitats
Heterogeneity
Insecta
Invertebrates
Nature reserves
Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking
Plants (organisms)
Reserves
Urban ecology
Vascular plants
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:Factors shaping overall species richness and representation of endangered species of vascular flora and butterflies were determined in 48 nature reserves in Prague, Czech Republic. Total species richness of both groups, and the presence of endangered butterflies, reflect the present status of habitats, while that of endangered plants reflects habitat composition at the time of reserve establishment. Reserve area has a much stronger effect on the species richness of sessile plants than mobile butterflies which, especially endangered species, respond more positively to heterogeneity than to area. Both species richness and endangered species peak in reserves half covered with forest, likely because they harbor species of both woodland and non-woodland habitats, and edge specialists. Solely relying on area and disregarding habitat quality, or a failure to conserve small but high quality sites, may be counterproductive for conserving endangered plant and butterfly species. To conserve diversity of plants and butterflies current management practices, often aimed at maintaining large blocks of pre-selected plant communities, should change to include maintenance of fallows, edges and transient zones.
ISSN:0006-3207
1873-2917
DOI:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.10.002