Abstract
In Sierra Morena (southern Spain), the lycaenid butterfly Tomares ballus is the main herbivore on Astragalus lusitanicus, a perennial legume. We found that consumption of flowers and seeds by T. ballus larvae strongly reduced plant fecundity in some patches. Spatial heterogeneity of butterfly effect on A. lusitanicus fecundity was determined not only by egg load variation among patches, which was in turn related to shrub cover, but also by varying synchrony of the oviposition period with temporal availability of immature inflorescences. Although seed set reduction caused by T. ballus attack was shown to be severe in some patches, seed losses due to pollination failure plus abortion was the main factor accounting for the low fecundity of A. lusitanicus plants.
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