Europe supports five species of blue butterfly of the Genus Maculinea. All of these are endangered both locally and globally, and consequently appear on the European Red List with three of the species being listed in annexes of the Habitats Directive. Each species currently has at least one global stronghold in Central Europe with one species (Maculinea rebeli) being endemic to Europe.

The Maculinea are scientifically interesting  because they have specialised life-styles that involve living underground as larvae and pupae for 11 months of the year inside red ants’ nests (Myrmica spp). Prior to this, larvae of each species feed solely on specific food plants. The five species are key representatives of several of the most valued and endangered types of grassland biotopes in Europe, ranging from calcareous to acid soils and from very wet to very dry hydrological regimes .  

The MacMan project started in February 2002 and has eight major partners in six different countries (Hungary, Poland, France, Great Britain, Denmark and Germany).

The project has four main objectives: 1) to increase knowledge in inter- and intraspecific variation in the functional ecology of Maculinea systems across Europe; 2) to assess the suitability of Maculinea butterflies as indicators of biodiversity along a European transect; 3) to develop standards for monitoring Maculinea butterflies as indicators and tools for grasslands and their management, and 4) to promulgate and exploit these monitoring standards. 

At the end of the project we will know the ecological variability within the species and their suitability as indicators. Thus, we know the geographical range of the applicability of simplifications for habitat management. 

Major project outcomes:

• Species lists for occupied and unoccupied Maculinea sites: the compilation of inventories of species that are associated with sites supporting different levels of ‘ Maculinea biodiversity', ranging from Myrmica only; foodplant; Maculinea ; parasitoid to >1 Maculinea species + parasitoids. As a result of the fieldwork conducted from 2002 to 2005, we present a compilation of species lists of the groups investigated for occupied and unoccupied or potential Maculinea sites with respect to regional, national and European red lists and degrees of threat
• One central question of the project was the niche overlap of Myrmica ant species that dominate Maculinea sites. Extensive field data was collected to be able to modify parameters on existing spatial models on ants as keystone species. Several scientific papers on this topic were published by MacMan project partners
• Intensive studies were conducted to find less and/or completely unknown host ants (along with the ant community of the Maculinea habitats), social parasites (both Maculinea and other species), and parasitoids living in Maculinea larvae
• Guidelines for the reintroduction of Maculinea species could be presented. The main results have been summarized in a paper published in Nature in 2004 by ALS et al. and in the news and views section of the same issue of Nature by THOMAS & SETTELE
• For all species of Maculinea, we now have models that predict the optimum management regimes for single sites, and – for M. teleius and M. nausithous - for metapopulations across a European gradient
• Mobility data for Maculinea butterflies were provided by several MRR studies, conducted in Germany, Poland, Denmark, Hungary and the UK. In most of the cases, relatively high site-fidelity was found, with the proportion of individuals changing patch per season estimated at only ca. 5-15%
• In the UK, further evidence was found that characteristic species-rich communities are developing on land that has received targeted management to restore the narrow optimum niches of Myrmica sabuleti and Maculinea arion within grasslands. In other words, it is only because M. arion is demonstrably acting as an umbrella species for other UK Biodiversity Action Plan species and ‘habitats' (ecosystems) that it was possible to obtain continued funding of this targeted management at the scale of landscapes
• The development of additional microsatellite markers has given us an even better toolkit for the examination of the population genetics and genetic diversity of Maculinea butterflies in Europe
• Simulation tools were developed, which allow i) to estimate the consequences of certain landscape changes or management options for the survival of Maculinea metapopulations or ii) to derive critical threshold values for metapopulation persistence, provided that the critical population and dispersal parameters are known
• A bilingual (German/English) film was produced about Maculinea in the context of the MacMan project and the homepage was improved in the direction of interactive features for stakeholders and the interested public
• A book entitled “Species ecology along a European gradient: Maculinea butterflies as a model” was published in December 2005 and contains all major findings of the MacMan project (incl. those of associated partners)

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