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Conservation of Butterflies in Garden Habitats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Denis F. Owen
Denis F. Owen
Affiliation:
66 Scraptoft Lane, Leicester, England; Formerly Professor of Zoology, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
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Extract

Sixteen species of butterflies occur in a small suburban garden in Leicester, England. During a five-years' survey, 9,000 individuals were caught, marked, and released, and it is suggested that this astonishing total is evidence that English gardens support a vast and highly mobile community of butterflies.

The contrived vegetational diversity of gardens provides an excellent environment for adult butterflies, but apart from Pieris rapae and Pieris brassicae, rather few seem to breed in gardens. One attractive species, Anthocharis cardamines, may have recently become adapted to breeding on Arabis albida, a common plant in rock-gardens. Suggestions are offered as to how gardens can be made attractive for butterflies.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , Winter 1976 , pp. 285 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1976

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References

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