Monarch butterflies rely on the Mexican forest canopy to be their `umbrella and blanket' that protects them from the winter rainfall and freezing cold .
One of the world's greatest wildlife spectacles is under threat because environmental projects to protect the monarch butterfly are failing, a leading expert has warned.
The flight of clouds consisting of millions of the orange and black butterflies migrating thousands of kilometers across North America to the mountains of Mexico is considered one of the great natural wonders of the world.
Scientists have warned for years that the butterflies are under threat because genetically modified crops are destroying the weeds and flowers they feed on and lay eggs in, and illegal logging is decimating their winter habitat high in the Mexican mountains.
Lincoln Brower, who has been studying the species for more than half a century, claims a Mexican government scheme to protect the forests where the butterflies spend the winter is failing. He will visit Britain later this month to draw attention to the problems he has observed.
"The illegal logging has not only accelerated; it has become a lot more intense, with dozens, up to hundreds, of people involved in big logging operations," he said.
As well as research showing 44 percent of the forest in the wintering areas had been thinned, degraded or removed since 1971, Brower said on a trip to the region this year he was informed of a "massive kill-off" where the monarchs had returned to a badly damaged part of the forest.
The butterflies rely on the canopy to be their "umbrella and blanket" and protect them from the winter rains and sub-zero temperatures.
"If you even thin those forests you're degrading their over-winter habitat, then they start freezing to death -- they get wet and they really freeze easily," Brower said.
Alfonso Ramos, federal prosecutor of environment for the Mexican government, said: "The Mexican state is trying to reduce the problem of illegal logging. However, there are organized gangs that create conflict in the forests by cutting trees illegally. We have even created security committees to protect these areas."By MARK PATINKIN
The Providence Journal
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
I saw a quote the other day asserting that dogs make more friends than humans because they wag tails instead of tongues. Another dog philosopher observed that a cheek licked by a canine can do more for one's mental health than therapy. Oh -- and this: If your dog is fat, it means you're not getting enough exercise.
It got me thinking about other lessons imparted by dogs.
more at http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/24404
By JENNIFER KAY, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 15, 6:21 PM ET
MIAMI - The volunteers tote a butterfly net, binoculars and field guides around the Miami Metrozoo grounds, scanning the plants and flowers for fluttering wings. But they aren‘t searching for a rare species or collecting specimens for display — they‘re counting butterflies for the Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network, then leaving the insects to continue their zigzagging flights through the humid air.
The counts turn butterfly enthusiasts into citizen scientists who record butterfly sightings in city and suburban parks, zoo-owned conservation lands and other open spaces across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The counts may help scientists prevent any more butterflies from becoming as rare as the Miami blue, a quarter-sized species now found only on one island in the Florida Keys, Daniels said. The Miami blue was abundant throughout South Florida a generation ago, and scientists were slow to recognize the extent of its decline.
All the counts follow roughly the same protocol: Volunteers walk at a steady pace along a fixed route through a predetermined location, counting the butterflies within view. Butterflies can be briefly caught for identification, but volunteers can‘t chase butterflies too far from the designated path. All individual butterflies seen during the count, along with the weather, are noted on a data sheet later submitted to NABA or one of the state networks.
On a recent morning just after a rainfall, a handful of tiny butterflies are spotted from a gravel path through the rockland. A pale blur no bigger than a quarter is easily identified mid-air as a common Florida butterfly, the Cassius blue.
A darker dot fluttering above the gravel is harder to identify by flight pattern alone. Adam Stern, the zoo‘s invertebrates expert, traps it in a butterfly net and gingerly transfers it to a clear plastic container so the volunteers can compare its tawny-orange wings with pictures in their field guides. After a minute, they conclude it‘s a Baracoa skipper and release it; Stern would have photographed it for identification later if the group had not been able to name the minuscule, fast-flying butterfly common to South Florida lawns.
The diversity of butterflies flying across the zoo‘s property has surprised Stern since he began leading the Metrozoo counts four years ago, with some species differentiated only by subtle markings.
About 3,000 people participated in 483 NABA counts across the continent last year, according to the New Jersey-based organization. While the participants are mostly amateurs, they collect information individual scientists cannot easily access, such as large-scale surveys of migratory species across multiple states, said Leslie Ries, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland who is analyzing three decades of NABA counts. She has found the data matches results independently compiled by the Illinois and Ohio butterfly monitoring networks from about 100 sites across each state.
According to the counts, the most common butterfly now in Ohio is the cabbage white butterfly — a species native to European lawns and meadows, Keiper said. The absence of a species from a site count is also revealing — such as in the case of the West Virginia white, whose forest habitat has been decimated by development and exploding deer populations.
"We think if we keep track a little bit better, use these walks as censusing devices, who knows when we‘re going to want to have an argument with Everglades National Park over burning or mowing or herbicides?" said Elaine Neuhring, the chapter‘s program chair. "If we could pull out three years of censusing, wouldn‘t that be interesting?"
___
On the Net:
Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network: http://www.flbutterflies.net
North American Butterfly Association: http://www.naba.org
Ohio Lepidopterists Long-Term Monitoring of Butterflies: http://www.ohiolepidopterists.org/bflymonitoring/
Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network: http://www.bfly.org
By JENNIFER KAY, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 15, 6:21 PM ET
MIAMI - The volunteers tote a butterfly net, binoculars and field guides around the Miami Metrozoo grounds, scanning the plants and flowers for fluttering wings. But they aren‘t searching for a rare species or collecting specimens for display — they‘re counting butterflies for the Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network, then leaving the insects to continue their zigzagging flights through the humid air.
The counts turn butterfly enthusiasts into citizen scientists who record butterfly sightings in city and suburban parks, zoo-owned conservation lands and other open spaces across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The counts may help scientists prevent any more butterflies from becoming as rare as the Miami blue, a quarter-sized species now found only on one island in the Florida Keys, Daniels said. The Miami blue was abundant throughout South Florida a generation ago, and scientists were slow to recognize the extent of its decline.
All the counts follow roughly the same protocol: Volunteers walk at a steady pace along a fixed route through a predetermined location, counting the butterflies within view. Butterflies can be briefly caught for identification, but volunteers can‘t chase butterflies too far from the designated path. All individual butterflies seen during the count, along with the weather, are noted on a data sheet later submitted to NABA or one of the state networks.
On a recent morning just after a rainfall, a handful of tiny butterflies are spotted from a gravel path through the rockland. A pale blur no bigger than a quarter is easily identified mid-air as a common Florida butterfly, the Cassius blue.
A darker dot fluttering above the gravel is harder to identify by flight pattern alone. Adam Stern, the zoo‘s invertebrates expert, traps it in a butterfly net and gingerly transfers it to a clear plastic container so the volunteers can compare its tawny-orange wings with pictures in their field guides. After a minute, they conclude it‘s a Baracoa skipper and release it; Stern would have photographed it for identification later if the group had not been able to name the minuscule, fast-flying butterfly common to South Florida lawns.
The diversity of butterflies flying across the zoo‘s property has surprised Stern since he began leading the Metrozoo counts four years ago, with some species differentiated only by subtle markings.
About 3,000 people participated in 483 NABA counts across the continent last year, according to the New Jersey-based organization. While the participants are mostly amateurs, they collect information individual scientists cannot easily access, such as large-scale surveys of migratory species across multiple states, said Leslie Ries, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland who is analyzing three decades of NABA counts. She has found the data matches results independently compiled by the Illinois and Ohio butterfly monitoring networks from about 100 sites across each state.
According to the counts, the most common butterfly now in Ohio is the cabbage white butterfly — a species native to European lawns and meadows, Keiper said. The absence of a species from a site count is also revealing — such as in the case of the West Virginia white, whose forest habitat has been decimated by development and exploding deer populations.
"We think if we keep track a little bit better, use these walks as censusing devices, who knows when we‘re going to want to have an argument with Everglades National Park over burning or mowing or herbicides?" said Elaine Neuhring, the chapter‘s program chair. "If we could pull out three years of censusing, wouldn‘t that be interesting?"
___
On the Net:
Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network: http://www.flbutterflies.net
North American Butterfly Association: http://www.naba.org
Ohio Lepidopterists Long-Term Monitoring of Butterflies: http://www.ohiolepidopterists.org/bflymonitoring/
Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network: http://www.bfly.org
