Patch occupancy, number of individuals and population density of the Marbled White in a changing agricultural landscape

Metapopulation theory predicts the occurrence of animals in habitat patches. In this paper, we tested predictions based on this theory, including effects of spatial autocorrelation, to describe factors affecting the presence, local number of individuals and density of the Marbled White butterfly Melanargia galathea in habitat patches spread across the agricultural landscape of southern Poland. This agricultural landscape has undergone significant changes in recent decades due to the country’s political transformation and is currently characterized by a large proportion of fallow (abandoned) land. We compared 48 occupied habitat patches with 60 unoccupied ones. Positive spatial autocorrelation was found in the number and density of individuals in habitat patches. The probability of patch occupancy was higher for patches that were larger, had a higher proportion of edges, were located closer to the nearest neighbouring local population and to the nearest piece of fallow, contained a smaller area of cut grass, and also had more nectar resources. The number of Marbled Whites in habitat patches was positively related to the patch area, the distance to the nearest fallow and the abundance of nectar resources, but was negatively related to the density of shrubs. The density of individuals was positively related to abundance of flowers, proportion of edge in a patch and distance to the nearest fallow, but it was negatively related to patch area, vegetation height and grass cover. These results indicate that recent land-use changes in agricultural landscapes have had both positive and negative effects on the presence and local number of individuals and density of the Marbled White. These changes affect the metapopulation of the species through changes in habitat quality and landscape connectivity in the area surrounding habitat patches.