Vegetation sampling
On the first visit to each site, the percentage cover of shrubs and bare
ground were recorded using the same quadrats for percentage cover of
plants, and the percentage cover of trees was later recorded using
Google Maps. Plant surveys were conducted following Tzortzakaki et al.
(2019), with the app “PictureThis” used alongside local taxonomic
expertise for species identification (Glority Global Group Limited,
2020). Four 0.5 m2 quadrats were established at even
distances along the butterfly transects, with the small quadrat size
chosen due to the limited spatial extent of the sites. The percentage
cover of each plant species was recorded for each quadrat, with
vegetation surveys conducted at each site in May and June for a total
sample size of n = 144. Despite the increased sample size
compared to the butterflies and birds, species accumulation curves
suggested that we only described 76% of the vegetation community in
each habitat type (Figure 2E-F), thus vegetation results should be
interpreted with caution.