Testing the transferability of Butterfly Banks as a habitat enhancement strategy across landscapes

Climate change is a growing threat to biodiversity, with rising temperatures and increased severity of extreme events threatening many taxa, particularly small ectotherms such as insects. Identifying management practices to protect insects is of global importance. One possible solution is to provide microclimate refugia within habitats, where cooler temperatures could allow vulnerable species to persist. This project tests the effectiveness of creating experimental butterfly banks (artificially-created slopes and mounds on reserves) to help arthropod communities adapt to climate change; whether butterfly bank effectiveness differs between landscapes with different climates and communities; and how visitors to reserves engage with such approaches.

Project Aims

1) To assess whether eight existing butterfly banks in Bedfordshire have increased the abundance and diversity of insects in the three years since their establishment

2) To collect baseline data on insect abundance and diversity from two new sites for butterfly banks, within areas of comparable flat, regenerating, grassland in Wiltshire.

3) To establish eight new banks at the Wiltshire sites.

4) To assess public perceptions of the banks through questionnaires on site, and engage the public with conservation.

5) To develop robust information on the potential of butterfly banks for climate change adaptation.

Key Activities

1) To collate existing data from two sites in Bedfordshire on the impacts of the installation of eight butterfly banks on microclimate, plant communities, ground insect communities, and butterfly communities. This will include sorting and identifying stored insect samples (collected before and after installation).

2) To carry out comparable baseline data collection before bank installation at two new sites in Wiltshire.

3) To construct eight new experimental butterfly banks in Wiltshire.

4) To carry out questionnaires to assess public perceptions of the banks.

5) To analyse findings and write up results both for scientific publication and for dissemination to the conservation community.

Conservation Impact

1) Improved management for climate change within reserves to reduce species losses, based on robust data

2) Increased awareness and knowledge of practical and robust methods to promote climate resilience by conservation practitioners, informing both management and policy

3) Increased public awareness and support for conservation, specifically related to climate change.

Outputs

1) An accessible manual for conservationists, detailing the construction of butterfly banks as a land management methodology.

2) At least one scientific paper in an open-access journal, to bring results of the project to the scientific community.

3) Eight new butterfly banks at two locations in Wiltshire.

4) Presentations about the project at (at least) two local public events in Bedfordshire and Wiltshire, as well as at relevant academic conferences.

5) Accessible interpretation boards associated with the new banks.

6) A large and accessible dataset on the impacts of butterfly banks.