Where have all the butterflies gone? (lowest number in decades in CA)

[Kadie]

Where have all the butterflies gone?
Last year, surprisingly large numbers of painted ladies migrated through Northern California -- this year, few have shown up
Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer



Wild fluctuations in California's winter and spring weather have hurt fragile butterfly populations, causing numbers to fall to the lowest in more than three decades and increasing the concerns of scientists about long-term declines linked to climate change and habitat loss.

UC Davis Professor Arthur Shapiro, considered one of the most prominent butterfly trackers in North America, said Monday he has found fewer butterflies this year than at anytime since he came to California 35 years ago.

"We have a severe depression of butterfly numbers at the lower elevations in Northern California, particularly in the Central Valley. We don't know if local populations are extinct or have dropped to low levels that we're unlikely to detect,'' he said.

snip...
At most of the study sites, he has seen half or less than half the number of species typically present at this time in an average year. Near Vacaville at Gates Canyon in April 2005, he found 21 species and 378 individual butterflies. But last month he counted 10 species and 43 individual butterflies.

Many species already appear to be suffering from a serious long-term decline because of several factors, including changes in climate and loss of habitat, he said.

more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/05/09/MNGSVIO7NM1.DTL



The painted lady, which stunned the Bay Area a year ago with its massive migration, has hardly appeared this year. Chronicle photo, 2005, by Chris Stewart

[Radio_Guy]

1. Two words

Global warming. Eventually it will kill us all.

[Robbien]

2. Privatization of forests in South and Central America

is killing us and the butterflies even faster.

[havocmom]

5. It is having impact. We have seen 3 species of artic breeding birds here

nesting. We are a tad south of Canada.

[sweetheart]

8. Two words: "habitat loss"

There is a cost, when you pave over everything with an urban jungle, the sprawl of LA, combined
with the drain of water the increasing population demands, sucks life out of that fragile habitat.

But when you treat open space as an infinite commodity, there is a price, migration of
animals is blocked, and whole species die out, tragically, its not humans.

[brook]

3. Development also

plays a part. In the past 2 -3 years, large areas of monarch habitat in my town have been destroyed.The State Park alone destroyed about 100 trees that once provided the monarchs with food and shelter.
Where once I could sit in the yard surrounded in their beauty, I'm lucky to see one or two on rare days. :(

fixed spelling.

[MadHound]

4. We can all help the butterflies

Start turning your backyard into a butterfly refuge. You can do this with plants like milkweed, butterfly bush, morning glories, and other plants that provide food, habitat, and shelter for butterflies. Sure, it isn't as vast as the rain forests of South and Central America, but every little bit helps. You will be rewarded with a heathier yard, as butterflies promote pollination, and the visual beauty of butterflies residing outside your window.

[crikkett]

6. Caterpillars die from BT corn pollen in the Midwest/

I read it in a book.

Thank you Monsanto!!
:applause:

PS: link -
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May99/Butterflies.bpf.html
Toxic pollen from widely planted, genetically modified corn can kill monarch butterflies, Cornell study shows

In the laboratory tests, monarchs fed milkweed leaves dusted with so-called transformed pollen from a Bt-corn hybrid ate less, grew more slowly and suffered a higher mortality rate, the researchers report. Nearly half of these larvae died, while all of the monarch caterpillars fed leaves dusted with nontransformed corn pollen or fed leaves without corn pollen survived the study.

[kestrel91316]

7. I don't know about the Painted Ladies, but I had a couple of very large

swallowtails of some sort busily doing their in-flight mating dance right in my face as I was planting seedlings in my garden on Sunday. It was so peaceful and quiet, I could hear their wings batting against each other as they got it on right in front of me. Quite the sight for a few minutes until they moved along.