Conservation ecology of butterflies on Cyprus in the context of Natura 2000

In this study we investigate the environmental factors influencing butterfly communities and evaluate the Natura 2000network’s effectiveness in representing butterfly species richnessand abundance, taking as a case study the island of Cyprus. We sampled butterflies and 11 environmental factors in 60 randomly selected sites across four 500-m elevation zones, representing seven habitattypes. Rural mosaics and riverine vegetation were the habitatswith the highest diversity of butterflies. Within habitats, the number of flower heads was the most important factor favouring butterfly species richnessand abundance and endemicbutterfly richness, while soil humidity had a positive effect on species richnessand abundance. Although the Natura 2000network succeeds in including the majority of butterfly species and all Cyprian endemics, the transects sampled within the network did not support more butterfly species than those outside it, and were significantly poorer in terms of butterfly abundance and endemicbutterfly species richnessand abundance. We found a similar pattern for the Habitats Directivepriority habitats, which held poorer overall and endemicbutterfly communities than the other habitats. The effectiveness of existing protected areanetworks may need to be reassessed in regions such as the South East Mediterranean, to ensure that regionally important components of biological diversity are adequately protected. To this aim, our results suggest that new European and national policies as well as further inclusion of rural mosaics and riverine habitatsin protected areanetworks are needed for effective butterfly conservation in Cyprus.