Re-creation of Early-successional Stages for Threatened Butterflies—an Ecological Engineering Approach

The importance of early-successional stages for the conservation of threatened butterflies of calcareous grassland, and reasons for their decline, are outlined. portunity to re-establish chalk on a site made available through construction of a motorway (the Bar End to Compton section of the M3, Hampshire) is described. The characteristics of the site are compared with present-day and historical conditions on the adjacent St Catherineʹs Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest. s of proposals to modify the topography of the site by ecological engineering are given. This modification is based upon a detailed knowledge of the ecological requirements of a range of scarce butterfly species, microclimatic observations and an assessment of available resources for re-vegetating the site. ason for the failure to implement the proposals are discussed. It is suggested that conservationists need to give greater emphasis to dynamic aspects of conservation and re-creation of early-successional communities.