Flight patterns of butterfly species in woodlands

Abstract

The flight patterns of twenty species of butterflies present in two coniferous woods and one coppiced wood in eastern England were recorded from April to September 1979. The most mobile species were those characteristic of disturbed habitats, with spatially segregated larval and adult habitats, and those butterflies with early successional larval host plants. The least mobile species were those of permanent habitats and those with ubiquitous larval host plants. Flights of poorly vagile species, but not vagile species, were restricted in both coniferous and coppiced woodland, but were shorter in the latter due to the presence of vegetational barriers to flight. Vagile species remained in coppiced areas longer than in areas of coniferous woodland, flights being influenced by the location of larval and adult food resources.