DOI: 10.5061/dryad.j54vv
title: Data from: The dual role of rivers in facilitating or hindering movements of the false heath fritillary butterfly

description: Background: Species movement responses to landscape structures have been
 studied using a variety of methods, but movement research is still in need
 of simple methods that help predicting and comparing movements across
 structurally different landscapes. We demonstrate how habitat-specific
 movement models can be used to disentangle causes of differentiated
 movement patterns in structurally different landscapes and to predict
 movement patterns in altered and artificial landscapes. In our case study,
 we studied the role of riparian landscapes to the persistence of the
 endangered false heath fritillary butterfly (Melitaea diamina) in its
 newly discovered coastal distribution region in Finland. We compared the
 movement parameters of the riparian population to two reference
 populations by using capture-recapture data and habitat-specific diffusion
 modelling, and analysed the role of the river and riverbank buffer zones
 in facilitating or hindering false heath fritillary movement with movement
 simulations. Results: The riparian population of the false heath
 fritillary did not show major differences to reference populations in
 terms of movement parameters within breeding habitat, high-quality matrix
 and low-quality matrix. However, movement simulations showed that the
 habitat-specific movement parameters estimated for the false heath
 fritillary can lead into markedly different movement patterns in
 structurally different landscapes. An artificial riparian landscape
 mimicking those of the coastal distribution resulted into more
 directional, longitudinal movements both parallel and perpendicular to the
 river than a more mosaic-like landscape, but the existence of the river in
 the landscape reduced movements across the river. Conclusions: Our study
 demonstrates how habitat-specific movement models enable comparisons of
 movement patterns across structurally different real, altered and
 artificial landscapes. As such, they can be used to compare movement
 parameters across populations, to study the effects of management
 interventions to endangered species and to identify areas that have high
 sensitivity to individual movement. In our case study, the river is shown
 to perform a dual role for the movements of the riparian false heath
 fritillary population. Whereas the river acts as a moderate movement
 barrier for the false heath fritillary, the longitudinal configuration of
 riverbank habitats provides a means especially for the male false heath
 fritillaries to move across the landscape.
description: False heath fritillary
 capture-recapture data and habitat classification maps of Sorila, Siitama
 and MerikarviaThis Zip file contains
 capture-recapture data and habitat classification maps of the three false
 heath fritillary populations in Finland that were studied in Fabritius et
 al. (2015). The capture-recapture data contains information on the daily
 search effort (i.e. areas visited on each day) and the days and locations
 of butterfly markings and recaptures for males and females separately.
 Habitat classification maps display the study landscapes categorized into
 breeding habitat, high-quality matrix and low-quality matrix and the
 locations of the search areas. Information on data collection and
 references to older publications where these data sets have been used are
 available in Fabritius et al. (2015).False_heath_fritillary_MRR_data.zip