The LIFE Metamorphosis project, carried out nationally by the ADEPT Transylvania Foundation in Romania and seeking to protect and reintroduce butterfly species that have lost their habitat in the rest of Europe, announced signs of progress this week.
The project, which takes place between 2022 and 2029, aims to protect 15 species of butterflies by conserving biodiversity and traditional agricultural landscapes. Two other species, Pseudophilotes bavius hungarica and Phengaris teleius have been reintroduced in the Apold and Angofa-Sighișoara areas, in central Romania.
"Romania remains one of the richest countries in Europe in terms of the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes that host butterfly species that have completely disappeared from other European countries,” said the ADEPT Transylvania Foundation in a press release.
“The reddish-yellow butterfly (Colias myrmidone), for example, once widespread across the continent, is now found only in Romania and in a small region of Hungary,” the same source added, cited by Agerpres.
Between 2022 and 2024, expert teams carried out the inventory of species of interest in the nine Natura 2000 sites included in the project, registering over 42,000 butterfly individuals and a significant increase in the number of identified species, from 49 to 97. These data were entered into the database of the European Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (eBMS) and will also be used in the national platform developed within the project.
From then on, experts proceeded to conservation and repopulation efforts. And the first successes are already visible.
"In 2024, for the first time in Romania, the second generation of the species Apatura ilia was recorded, an indicator of improved conservation status of habitats. From the first year of implementation, the project managed to extend the range of two threatened species, through habitat restoration and the translocation of pregnant females from existing populations,” emphasized the ADEPT Transylvania Foundation.
Recent monitoring of the two species that were reintroduced confirms the appearance of new individuals, indicating their adaptation to the restored habitat. The success of the project, foundation representatives claim, depends on collaboration with farmers and local communities managing the targeted lands.
An important outcome of the project will be the establishment of a national center for collecting and interpreting Lepidoptera data, which will support decision-makers, researchers, and land managers by providing up-to-date and field-validated data. The center will also support citizen science initiatives and contribute to connection with European structures such as eBMS.
Additionally, through the project, an innovative biodiversity credit scheme will be developed, in which butterflies, along with other species of interest, will be used as key indicators. This has the potential to create mechanisms for economically rewarding communities that adopt sustainable land management practices.
ADEPT, founded in 2004, is a biodiversity conservation and rural development NGO based in Saschiz, Romania.
The Metamorphosis project focuses on the conservation in three Member states (Slovakia, Hungary and Romania) of butterfly species listed in Annexes II and IV of the EU Habitats Directive. In Romania the 15 targeted species are: Colias myrmidone, Callimorpha quadripunctaria, Euphydryas aurinia, E. maturna, Eriogaster catax, Lopinga achine, Lycaena dispar, L. helle, Phengaris (Maculinea) arion, P. nausithous, P. teleius, Parnassius mnemosyne, P. apollo, Pseudophylotes bavius, Zerynthia polyxena.
(Photo source: ADEPT Foundation on Facebook)
