La maleza
parque de fauna
SIERRA DE ALBARRACÍN
CONSERVATION PROJECT
Reforestation to increase the population of the Espantalobos butterfly.
In collaboration with
From the park, and in collaboration with the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), we are strengthening the population of the Espantalobos butterfly (Iolana debilitata), a species listed as Endangered in the Red Book of Iberian Lepidoptera. We support it by replanting within the park the shrub Colutea arborescens (also known as “espantalobos”), which the butterfly depends on to survive, as it needs it to lay its eggs and feed its larvae. Only 45 specimens of this shrub remain in the Sierra de Albarracín, due to climate change and land clearing in the forests.
Our small contribution: we have an active replanting program with 50 espantalobos shrubs, which are already beginning to be colonized by the butterfly.
Importance of butterflies
Their ecological role is multifaceted: the larvae (caterpillars) are active plant feeders and convert plant biomass into matter that can be assimilated by secondary consumers. Adults, for the most part, feed on nectar from the flowers of many plant species while pollinating them, making them a very important link in the survival of the ecosystem.
Did you know that we are in an area of special interest for butterflies at a European level?
The long-term, ongoing and in-depth survey and study of butterfly fauna in this region has highlighted its enormous importance in the European context, and the area was selected some time ago as a Prime Butterfly Area in Europe.
Likewise, the 2007 study on the selection of areas for butterfly conservation in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands (H. Romo, M. L. Munguira & E. García-Barros) again emphasized the area’s special conservation interest, since it hosts 136 species of day-flying butterflies out of the 138 found in the province of Teruel, and out of the 223 in Spain as a whole, representing a richness of 60.44%.
In total, the Sierra de Albarracín is home to 1,120 species of Lepidoptera out of the 5,500 found in Spain. Three of them are protected at both European (Habitats Directive) and national level (Spanish National Catalogue of Protected Species): Euphydryas aurinia, Parnassius apollo, and Phengaris arion. In addition, it has 7 Iberian endemics, which represents 5% of the total.
Despite all this, Lepidoptera have not been properly taken into account in conservation studies, resulting in a lack of data on the species that inhabit the Sierra, such as censuses, population changes, threats, conservation measures, etc.
For this reason, La Maleza has decided to collaborate in Lepidoptera conservation, since this is a highly diverse group in the Sierra and there is not enough data to act accordingly for its conservation.
