Complex Components of Habitat Suitability within a Butterfly Colony

Abstract

The microdistribution of adult Euphydryas editha changes from year to year, and the colony is subdivided into three populations that fluctuate independently in size. These observations are attributed largely to fluctuations in time and space of three complex larval resources associated with the availability of food. This cotnplexity also entails selection pressure favoring the observed low dispersal tendency of adults.