The marsh fritillary is one of the UK's most threatened butterflies, requiring devil's-bit scabious on traditionally managed grassland — welfare conservation depends on landscape-scale metapopulation management.
Marsh fritillary welfare is linked to landscape-scale metapopulation dynamics. Local populations go extinct regularly through natural cycles; welfare of the overall population depends on nearby source sites remaining viable for recolonisation. Egg batch destruction from overgrazing in late summer is a direct welfare harm. Caterpillar mortality from wrong-season cutting is significant. Management networks — agri-environment schemes spanning multiple farms — are the only viable welfare and conservation response at landscape scale.