landscape, violet plant density tends to be limited or greatly reduced in certain areas. This has been shown to have a negative impact on regal fritillary populations. A study conducted by Kelly and Debinski (1998) looked at larval food source limitations as a factor in the declining regal fritillary populations. The authors correlated violet plant density to population size and weights of regal fritillary butterflies. It was found that prairies with significantly lower violet densities had smaller populations of S. idalia. Butterfly weights were also slightly lower in areas with low violet density (Kelly and Debinski 1998). As a result, a number of concerns have been raised regarding the health of the regal fritillary. Areas with few or no violets can be detrimental to female fecundity because there are few suitable places for the eggs to be laid (Kelly and Debinski 1998). Also, smaller fragmented populations are susceptible to restricted gene flow and reduced genetic variability (Williams et al. 2003). This study also showed that habitat quality for the regal fritillary is just as important as the amount of habitat available. Increased violet density and nectar availability are essential to maintaining healthy populations (Kelly and Debinski 1998). Habitat fragmentation and isolation can have large-scale genetic effects on high gene flow species such as the regal fritillary. There is an increased likelihood of population extirpation among high gene flow species experiencing habitat fragmentation (Williams et al. 2003). Williams et al. (2003) compared levels of genetic differentiation and diversity among populations with a relatively continuous habitat to populations in isolated habitat areas. It was found that the isolated and highly fragmented populations had increased differentiation, or divergence from other populations, and decreased genetic diversity in comparison to non-fragmented populations. Restricted gene flow and population bottlenecks likely occur among populations in fragmented habitat areas, causing these phenomena (Williams et al. 2003). As habitat fragmentation continues to increase in much of the regal fritillary's Midwestern range, genetic problems may become a real threat, disrupting gene flow and increasing the risk of disease. Prescribed burning is an attractive and widely used conservation tool among land managers today. The historic role that fire played in the prairie landscape can be highly beneficial to many plant species. Prescribed burns have also become a popular low-cost alternative for removing woody vegetation on rural and agricultural lands (Powell et al. 2006). However, there has been some evidence that intensive