This is a shared-cost RTD project funded under the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Communities within the Programme Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development, Key Action Global Change, Climate and Biodiversity, Thematic Priority Assessing and Preserving Biodiversity.  Research is being conducted by 8 principal contractors in 6 European countries, assisted by 10 subcontractors. 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
    
4. To promulgate and exploit these monitoring standards