Partial recovery of a Skipper Butterfly (Hesperia comma) from Population Refuges: Lessons for Conservation in a Fragmented Landscape

In Britain, Hesperia comma inhabits heavily grazed calcareous grasslands. When rabbits were killed by myxomatosis in the mid-1950s, this habitat became overgrown and H. comma declined to 46 or fewer localities in 10 refuge regions (Thomas et al. 1986). By 1982, rabbits had recovered and many former sites again appeared suitable, but had not been recolonized. Between 1982 and 1991, the number of habitat patches that were populated increased by 30% in the South and North Downs. Most of the increase was in East Sussex. The probability of colonization between 1982 and 1991 increased with patch area, and declined with isolation from source populations (maximum 8-65 km). The probability of local extinction declined with increasing patch area, and increased with isolation