Landscape-scale dynamics of a threatened species respond to local-scale conservation management

Landscape-scale approaches are increasingly advocated for species conservation but ensuring landscape level persistence by enlarging the size of patches or increasing their physical connectivity is often impractical.  Here, we test how such barriers can be overcome by management of habitat at the local (site-based) level, using a rare butterfly as an exemplar. We used four surveys of the entire UK distribution of the Lulworth Skipper (Thymelicus acteon) over 40 years to test how local habitat influences population density and colonization / extinction dynamics, and parameterized, validated and applied a metapopulation model to simulate effects of varying local habitat quality on regional persistence. We found the total number of populations in four distribution snapshots between 1978 and 2017 varied between 59–84, and from 1997 to 2017, 34% of local populations showed turnover (colonization or extinction). Population density was closely linked to vegetation characteristics indicative of..., ,