In human-altered landscapes, species with specific habitat requirements tend to persist as metapopulations, forming colonies restricted to patches of suitable habitats, displaying mutually independent within-patch dynamics and interconnected by inter-colony movements of individuals. Despite intuitive appeal and both empirical and analytical evidence, metapopulations of only relatively few butterfly systems had been both monitored for multiple years to quantify metapopulation dynamics, and assayed from the point of view of population genetics. We used allozyme analysis to study the genetic make-up of a metapopulation of a declining and EU-protected butterfly, Euphydryas aurinia, inhabiting humid grasslands in western Czech Republic, and reanalysed previously published demography and dispersal data to interpret the patterns. For 497 colony x year visits to the 97 colonies known at that time, we found annual extinction and colonisation probabilities roughly equal to 4%. The genetic diversity within colonies was intermediate or high for all assessed parameters of population genetic diversity and hence higher than expected for such a habitat specialist species. All the standard genetic diversity measures were positively correlated to adult counts and colony areas, but the correlations were weak and rarely significant, probably due to the rapid within-colony population dynamics. Only very weak correlations applied to larval nests numbers. We conclude that the entirety of colonies forms a well-connected system for their majority. Especially in its core parts, we assume a metapopulation structure with a dynamic equilibrium between local extinction and recolonization. It is vital to conserve in particular these structures of large and interconnected colonies.

Implications for insect conservation: Conservation measures should focus on considering more in depth the habitat requirements of E. aurinia for management plans and on stabilisation strategies for colonies, especially of peripheral ones, e.g. by habitat restoration.

在人类改变的景观中，具有特定栖息地要求的物种倾向于作为复合种群持续存在，形成仅限于合适栖息地斑块的群体，显示出相互独立的斑块内动态，并通过个体的群体间运动相互联系。尽管具有直观的吸引力以及经验和分析证据，但仅对相对较少的蝴蝶系统的复合种群进行了多年监测以量化复合种群动态，并从种群遗传学的角度进行分析。我们使用等位酶分析来研究下降和受欧盟保护的蝴蝶Euphydryas aurinia的集合种群的遗传构成，居住在捷克共和国西部潮湿的草原上，并重新分析了以前发表的人口统计和扩散数据来解释这些模式。对于当时已知的 97 个殖民地的 497 个殖民地 x 年的访问，我们发现每年的灭绝和殖民概率大约等于 4%。对于所有评估的种群遗传多样性参数而言，殖民地内的遗传多样性处于中等或高水平，因此高于这种栖息地专家物种的预期。所有标准的遗传多样性测量都与成虫数量和集落面积呈正相关，但相关性很弱且很少显着，可能是由于集落内种群动态的迅速。只有非常弱的相关性适用于幼虫巢数。我们得出结论，整个殖民地为它们的多数形成了一个连接良好的系统。特别是在其核心部分，我们假设了一个在局部灭绝和重新殖民之间具有动态平衡的复合种群结构。特别是保护这些大型和相互关联的群体结构至关重要。

对昆虫保护的影响：保护措施应侧重于更深入地考虑E. aurinia的栖息地要求，以制定管理计划和群落稳定策略，尤其是外围群落，例如通过栖息地恢复。