MONITORING PROPOSAL OF THE SPECIES APORIA CRATAEGI (LINNAEUS, 1758) IN POLAND

The Aporia crataegi (Linnaeus, 1758) is a large butterfly of the Pieridae family. Its range extends from northwest Africa in the west to the Transcaucasia and across the Palearctic to Siberia and Japan in the east. In the south, it occurs in Turkey, Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and Syria, while it is not found in northern Scandinavia and is extinct in the British Isles. Although it is a fairly widespread species, its biology and population size are still poorly understood. In Poland, a decrease in its number was observed. Due to the lack of developed monitoring methods for the Aporia crataegi, the paper proposes an example of how to conduct such research. The main goal is to estimate the size of the species population and to assess the quality of the habitats it occupies. The research methodology is based on the counting of caterpillar nests on the designated transects and on the assessment of the quality of the habitat according to the indicated indicators. Such studies can provide valuable data on the species habitat requirements, as well as information on potential threats affecting the population, which could be used to implement appropriate conservation methods.