Recovery and Maintenance of Self-sustaining Populations of the Endangered Mottled Duskywing

斑蝶是加拿大一种濒临灭绝的蝴蝶，只生活在安大略省西南部和马尼托巴省东南部。该物种与加拿大一些最稀有的生态系统有关，如橡树稀树草原、橡树和松树林地、高草草原和具有其幼虫寄主植物（Ceanothus spp.）发生的早期演替栖息地的阿尔瓦尔。由于栖息地丧失、破碎化和管理不善，它在加拿大大部分历史上占据的位置已经消失，在整个北美正在减少。尽管斑蝶在北美大部分地区都处于濒危状态，但关于该物种的研究很少发表，在美国或加拿大也没有任何恢复濒危种群的努力。这个为期五年的项目的目标是进行旨在扭转斑蝶数量下降的研究，并建立安大略省第一只蝴蝶的重新引入。由圭尔夫大学、西部大学、温尼伯大学、剑桥蝴蝶温室、加拿大自然保护协会、加拿大野生动物保护协会、自然资源解决方案公司、奥尔德维尔黑橡树大草原和安大略省公园的跨学科合作团队领导，这项研究伙伴关系将为整个加拿大的蝴蝶保护工作铺平道路，并为这种濒危物种铺平道路。在加拿大东部和美国东北部实施领先的恢复工作。要实现恢复可持续种群的项目目标，需要三个关键组成部分：1)了解现有亚种群的人口统计学，2)确定现有亚种群的遗传多样性，3)建立成功的圈养计划。为了解决这些问题，该项目建立在研究团队和合作伙伴组织的成熟专业知识的基础上。加拿大将从这项研究中受益，因为它将为濒危昆虫物种的保护和恢复计划提供本地来源的模型，并将降低恢复计划的未来成本，从而产生显著的长期经济效益。

The Mottled Duskywing is an endangered butterfly in Canada that is restricted to southwestern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba. This species is associated with some of the rarest ecosystems in Canada, such as oak savannas, oak and pine woodlands, tallgrass prairies, and alvars with early successional habitat where its larval host plant (Ceanothus spp.) occurs. It has been lost from the majority of historically occupied locations in Canada and is declining throughout North America due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and poor management. Although the Mottled Duskywing is imperiled throughout most of its North American range, very little published research exists on the species, and no efforts to recover imperiled populations have occurred anywhere in the US or Canada. The goal of this five-year project is to conduct research aimed at reversing the decline of Mottled Duskywing and establish Ontario's first butterfly reintroduction. Led by a collaborative, interdisciplinary team from the University of Guelph, Western University, University of Winnipeg, Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Wildlife Preservation Canada, Natural Resource Solutions Inc., Alderville Black Oak Savanna, and Ontario Parks, this research partnership will pave the way for butterfly conservation efforts throughout Canada and, for this endangered species, to implement leading-edge recovery efforts throughout eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. There are three critical components needed to achieve the project goal of recovering sustainable populations of the Mottled Duskywing: 1) an understanding of the demography of existing subpopulations, 2) identification of the genetic diversity of existing subpopulations, and 3) establishment of a successful captive rearing program. To address these components, the project builds on the well-established expertise of the research team and partner organizations. Canada will benefit from this research because it will support a locally-sourced model for the conservation and recovery planning of an insect species at risk and it will mitigate future costs of recovery programs, resulting in significant long-term economic benefits.