Clouded apollo butterfly project

Details

The clouded apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne; Mnemosynefjäril in Swedish) is a red-listed, Palearctic butterfly species with a rather wide distribution across western Eurasia, but population decline and fragmentation has been observed in many parts of the range. The habitat preference of the clouded apollo is rather specific - mosaic landscapes with low-intensity grazed pastures intermixed with sheltering higher vegetation and high abundance of larval host plants (Corydalis sp.; preferably C. solida). With the transition from small scale agricultural practices to centralized land management, such habitats have disappeared at a high rate over the latest decades. In Fennoscandia, the clouded apollo is currently found in Sweden, Norway and Finland, but it has been extinct in Denmark for more than 50 years. Around a century ago, the clouded apollo was rather wide-spread in southern Sweden, but rapid population declines have led to considerable fragmentation and today the species distribution is limited to three small and geographically distinct regions (Blekinge, Roslagen, Västernorrland).

In collaboration with Regional County Administrative Boards and the Nordens Ark foundation for conservation, we apply genomics approaches to make informed decisions about conservation actions for the clouded apollo in Sweden. Our efforts have so far resulted in a good picture of the levels of genetic diversity and inbreeding in extant populations and identified significant genetic differences between individuals from different regions. These insights are used in the strategic work to enhance genetic diversity in general and to breed and release butterflies in areas where the habitat has been restored. The project is managed by Jacob Höglund at the Animal Ecology Program and Niclas Backström at the Evolutionary Biology Program.