Resource-based habitat use in Lycaena helle: Significance of a functional, ecological niche-oriented approach

We adopted a resource-based habitat approach to better understand the distribution and conservation of the Violet Copper butterfly, the focal species of this book. The significance of this organism-centered, behavioural approach of habitat to understand and conserve butterflies, instead of using general vegetation types as surrogates of a species’ habitat, has recently been advocated. This approach aims for integrating the key functional relationships between the organism and the essential consumables and conditions in the environment focusing on both adult and larval stages. Thus, we summarized our knowledge on the resource-based habitat-use in L. helle based on field data from the Belgian Ardenne region. We included demographic and behavioural data and models explaining the abundance of males and females, the egg distribution and the survival from the egg stage until the third larval instar. Finally, we discussed the new insights on habitatuse of L. helle across its life cycle and the significance of these findings and the resource-based habitat concept for the conservation of L. helle in Belgium and elsewhere