| Abstract: | According to investigation on two species of melitaeine butterflies in Yanjiaping Village, Chicheng County, Hebei Province, China, between 1998-2002, together with the use of 1:10000 contour map of the local area, some conclusions are shown by the SPSS and GIS analysis of data obained from GPS: (1) The two species of melitaeine butterflies have different metapopulation structures. M. phoebe is a source-sink metapopulation, while E. aurinia is a classical metapopulation, supporting the analytic result from our former genetic research. (2) The two species of melitaeine butterflies exhibit different trends of population dynamics. M. phoebe source-sink metapopulation is very unsteady, and is always small, thus has a tendency to go extinct gradually. But E. aurinia classical metapopulation is stable, and has maintained a larger population size. Therefore, it stands a better chance of long-term survival. (3) The two species of melitaeine butterflies are significantly related in both patch occupancy and local population size. (4) The effect of isolation is significant on the metapopulations of these two species of melitaeine butterflies, consistent with the classical theories, whereas the effect of patch area is not significant on the metapopulations of these two species of melitaeine butterflies, which is inconsistent with the classical theories. Therefore, other factors, such as habitat quality, should be considered for their influences on metapopulations. |
