Don’t let these species butterfly away: How does land protection status and land cover influence the species richness of butterflies across Ohio, USA?

Butterflies are important pollinators that have faced population declines due to climate change and habitat loss. The vegetation and floral resources they need to complete their life cycles vary in quality across land cover types, with natural land cover providing a more suitable habitat than urban development and agricultural land. Protected parks and preserves are expected to provide a more suitable habitat for butterflies than unprotected lands. We surveyed adult butterflies across Ohio to determine how land cover and protection status influenced butterfly richness. We hypothesized that butterfly richness is higher in locations surrounded by natural landscapes rather than disturbed landscapes and that protected land positively influences richness. The specimens were collected in water bowl traps deployed in 1,234 sampling events at 147 locations across Ohio in 2020. From 3,813 identifiable specimens, we detected 43 species representing 37 genera and eight families. The families Hesperiidae and Nymphalidae comprised 72% of specimens, with widespread genera Polites and Poanes (Hesperiidae) comprising 45% and Phycoides (Nymphalidae) 20% of the specimens. We expect more butterfly species in sites that have a higher proportion of forest and a lower proportion of urban and agricultural land in the surrounding landscape. Protected sites are predicted to harbor higher butterfly richness than unprotected sites because they have a significantly higher proportion of forest and lower proportions of agriculture and urban development than unprotected sites within a 500 m radius. Understanding the role of Ohio’s protected lands in safeguarding butterfly taxa provides insights into future conservation and management strategies.