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The genetic consequence of differing ecological demands of a generalist and a specialist butterfly species

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Abstract

Many studies aim at testing the impact of recent fragmentation on the genetic diversity and connectivity of populations, while some species do exist naturally in fragmented landscapes because of their habitat requirements. Therefore, it is important to look at the genetic signatures of species occurring in naturally fragmented landscapes in order to disentangle the effect of fragmentation from the effect of habitat requirements. We selected two Nymphalid butterflies for this purpose. While Melanargia galathea is a common butterfly in flower-rich meadows, Melitaea aurelia is closely connected to calcareous grasslands, thus being historically fragmented due to its ecological demands. For the analysis of the genetic response on these opposed patterns, we analysed 18 allozyme loci for 789 individuals (399 individuals of M. galathea and 390 individuals of M. aurelia) in a western German study region with adjacent areas in Luxemburg and northeastern France. Both species showed similarly low genetic differentiations among local populations (M. galathea: F ST 3.3%; M. aurelia: F ST 3.6%), both combined with a moderate level of inbreeding. Isolation-by-distance analysis revealed a significant correlation for both species with similar amounts of explained variances (M. galathea: r 2 = 27.8%; M. aurelia: r 2 = 28.5%). Most parameters of genetic diversity were higher in M. galathea than in M. aurelia, but the latter species had a considerably higher amount of rare or locally restricted genes; the differing ecological demands are thus reflected in these differences. Both species thus seem to be genetically well suited to their respective ecological requirements. In the light of conservation genetics, we deduce that highly fragmented populations are not necessarily prone to extinction. The extinction risk might be linked to the life history of an organism and its population genetic structure.

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Acknowledgement

We acknowledge a grant from the German Science Foundation DFG (grant number SCHM 1659/3-1 and 3-2) and the scholarship “Arten- und Biotopschutz” of the Ministry of Rhineland-Palatinate, enabling the collecting trips and the allozyme electrophoresis. We are grateful to the governments of the Rhineland-Palatinate, the Saarland and Luxembourg for the sampling permits and to France not demanding such a permission. We thank Desmond Kime for critical comments on a draft version of this article and for the correction of our English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biogeographie, Fachbereich VI, Am Wissenschaftspark 25-27, Universität Trier, 54296, Trier, Germany

    Jan Christian Habel & Thomas Schmitt

  2. Musée National d’histoire Naturelle Luxembourg, 25, rue Münster, 2160, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Jan Christian Habel & Marc Meyer

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  1. Jan Christian Habel
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  2. Marc Meyer
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Correspondence to Jan Christian Habel.

Appendix

Appendix

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Table 6 Allele frequencies of all polymorphic loci of all populations analysed of (a) Melanargia galathea and (b) Melitaea aurelia
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Habel, J.C., Meyer, M. & Schmitt, T. The genetic consequence of differing ecological demands of a generalist and a specialist butterfly species. Biodivers Conserv 18, 1895–1908 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9563-5

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