2. Effect of Widespread Agricultural Chemical Use on
Butterfly Diversity Across Turkish Provinces
Contributed Paper by Burak K. Pekin
a photo essay…
Conservation Biology
December 2013
Mark Burgman, Editor-in-Chief
www.conbio.org
Published by Wiley
4. Effects of Widespread Agricultural Chemical Use on Butterfly Diversity Across Turkish Provinces
Conservation Biology
In addition to being highly
sensitive to environmental
change, butterflies are
also highly representative
of biodiversity at large
spatial scales. They are
thus a good indicator
group with which to
assess regional
biodiversity losses.
(Pekin, 2013)
6. Effects of Widespread Agricultural Chemical Use on Butterfly Diversity Across Turkish Provinces
Conservation Biology
Thirty-seven of Turkey's 373
species have a near threatened
(NT), vulnerable (VU),
endangered (EN), or critically
endangered (CR)
classification…
Accordingly, I calculated
threatened butterfly richness
for each province as the
number of species with an NT,
VU, EN, or CE classification.
(Pekin, 2013)
9. Effects of Widespread Agricultural Chemical Use on Butterfly Diversity Across Turkish Provinces
Conservation Biology
My results revealed substantial
differences in butterfly
composition among Turkish
provinces within the same
geographic region...The
compositional differences
between provinces in the same
region were largely explained by
their area of natural land cover
and agricultural chemical use.
(Pekin, 2013)
11. Effects of Widespread Agricultural Chemical Use on Butterfly Diversity Across Turkish Provinces
Conservation Biology
The strength of the effect of
pesticide use on the relative
number of threatened
butterfly species was more
than twice that of natural land
cover and precipitation
seasonality (Table 1)…
(Pekin, 2013)
12. Effects of Widespread Agricultural Chemical Use on Butterfly Diversity Across Turkish Provinces
Conservation Biology
…threatened butterfly richness decreased most strongly with pesticide
use and increased nearly as strongly with natural land cover
14. Effects of Widespread Agricultural Chemical Use on Butterfly Diversity Across Turkish Provinces
Conservation Biology
My results also suggest that
agricultural intensification, reflected
in pesticide use, poses as great of a
threat to butterfly conservation as
loss of natural land cover in Turkey
because threatened butterfly species
(both total richness and relative
number of species) decreased most
strongly as pesticide use increased.
(Pekin, 2013)
15. Effects of Widespread Agricultural Chemical Use on Butterfly Diversity Across Turkish Provinces
Conservation Biology
…increased availability and
widespread use of agricultural
chemicals and other industrialized
farming techniques are likely to
make traditional farming practices
obsolete. The loss of traditional
agriculture and the associated
migration of rural populations to
cities pose an imminent threat to the
cultural as well as biological diversity
of Turkish landscapes.
(Pekin, 2013)
17. Effects of Widespread Agricultural Chemical Use on Butterfly Diversity Across Turkish Provinces
Conservation Biology
Mitigating agricultural intensification
in Turkey is important for conserving
the biodiversity of Turkey and Europe
as a whole because Turkey harbors
many of Europe's rare species.
(Pekin, 2013)