1.1.14 Diversity of species – butterfly population trend

Key message: The population of the forest butterflies is in a slight increase and there is a slight decrease in the population of meadow butterflies

Assessment: The indicator shows trends of change in population abundance of selected butterfly species from forest and meadow habitats. The change in the population of butterfly indicates the loss, but also changes in the structure of their habitats, due to fragmentation and isolation, as well as other changes in the environment that directly or indirectly affect the change in population structure. It is shown that population of butterflies in meadow habitats were more stable in the period from 2014 to 2017, while in forest habitats the oscillations in population dynamics were more evident.

Data provided cover 15 species of butterflies found in forest and meadow habitats, used from “Alciphron” data base, for the period 2003-2017. For the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia, relatively small deviation in the number of both forest and meadow species was observed. According to these estimates, the trends of forest species are on a slight increase, with the maximum values in 2004, 2011, 2015, and 2017. In 2008, the largest increase in population was recorded for meadow species, while for forest species the greatest decrease was recorded in 2018. The analysis shows a decrease in the number of population of species in meadow and forest habitats in the north of the country, while there is a significant increase in the number of population of butterflies in the south of the country.

Picture 1: Population of forest butterfly species

Picture 2: Population of meadow butterfly species