Trends in Scotland's butterflies

Brereton, Tom; Fox, Richard; Kirkland, Paul; Roy, David; Foster, Simon

Brereton, Tom; Fox, Richard; Kirkland, Paul; Roy, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5147-0331; Foster, Simon. 2011 Trends in Scotland's butterflies. In: Marrs, Susan J.; Foster, Simon; Hendrie, Catriona; Mackey, Edward C.; Thompson, Des B.A., (eds.) The changing nature of Scotland. The Stationery Office, 59-66.

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Abstract

1. Butterflies in Scotland are monitored largely through the efforts of
volunteer recorders via two different recording schemes, the Butterflies for
the New Millennium Project and the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme.
2. Two different types of trend are calculated, namely distribution (31
species), and abundance (20 species).
3. The results show that the trends for Scotland’s butterflies are mixed.
Some species have undergone substantial range contractions, whilst
other species have expanded in range. The abundance trends show that
overall generalist species that occur in a wide range of habitats have
increased, whilst specialist species that are largely restricted to seminatural
habitats have declined.
4. The range of many butterfly populations is determined by climate. Three
new species have already colonised Scotland since 2000 and in the future
we may see more changes as a result of predicted climate change.