Florida Butterflies

WINGS ESSAYS ON INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION THE XERCES SOCIETY FALL 2010 CONTENTS Introduction Scott Hoffman Black Page 3. Assessing the Status of the World’s Butterflies Owen T. Lewis Completing an assessment of the status of the world’s butterflies might seem as though it would be a straightforward task, until you realize that there isn’t even a comprehensive list of species. Page 4. Butterflies in Turkey’s Kaçkar Mountains Evrim Karaçetin and Hilary Welch Construction of an oil pipeline brought new attention to a remarkable butterfly fauna — and to the threat posed by planned hydroelectric dams. Page 8. Conservation of Butterflies in Japan’s Changing Environments Yasuhiro Nakamura Japan’s traditional rural landscape of small fields and woodlands —the satoyama— is home to many species of butterflies. Page 13. Florida Butterflies Jaret Daniels Florida’s butterfly populations have always fluctuated, due in large part to the vaga- ries of tropical weather, but recent events may be pushing them into decline. Page 18. Butterfly Conservation in 2010: How We Got Here Robert Michael Pyle Events in Britain a century and a half ago resulted in the first concerted efforts to conserve butterflies, and led indirectly to the creation of the Xerces Society.Page 22. Xerces News The Xerces Society assumes a new role in worldwide butterfly conservation; Xerces is a partner in the Monarch Joint Venture; we offer a new book on pollinator conservation and launch a three-year project presenting short courses on pollinators; and reprints are available from former Xerces president Thomas Eisner. Page 28. 2 WINGS Introduction Scott Hoffman Black In 1971, Robert Michael Pyle founded pose a risk to this precious resource; how the Xerces Society with the intent of the loss of traditional farming methods protecting butterflies. Although the may be threatening some species in Society has broadened its interests over Japan; and how formerly common but- the ensuing four decades and now works terflies in Florida have been declining. on behalf of a wide variety of inverte- We also have articles on the history of brates — beetles, dragonflies, caddisflies, global butterfly conservation and on snails, to name just a few — butterflies methods for assessing the global status have remained at the core of our work. of butterfly species. We hope the essays Whether supporting Pyle’s efforts as the and photographs will encourage you to first chair of the Lepidoptera Specialist get engaged in butterfly conservation in Group of the International Union for your local area and beyond. Conservation of Nature (IUCN) from 1976 to 1982, using legislation to protect at-risk species, or working with farmers and land managers to create or manage habitat, the Xerces Society has main- tained a focus on butterflies. We continue to advocate for the most endangered butterfly species and have reinvigorated our monarch- protection program, working to better understand and protect monarch over- wintering areas in California and the native milkweed species that support summer populations. We have also re- cently expanded our international role, as I begin chairing the IUCN’s newly re- formed Butterfly Specialist Group. This issue of Wings is dedicated to global butterfly conservation, high- lighting the partnership between the Long recognized as symbols of fragility IUCN and the Xerces Society and illus- and beauty, butterflies are indicators of a trating some of the threats facing butter- healthy environment. Concerted conservation efforts are needed to ensure that flies — and the inspiring efforts that are they retain their position in both our being made to protect them. We have imaginations and our landscapes. Green- essays on butterfly diversity in Turkey underside blue (Glaucopsyche alexis), pho- and how dams and other developments tographed by Evrim Karaçetin. FALL 2010 Assessing the Status of the World’s Butterflies Owen T. Lewis I remember vividly my first experience status formally assessed by the Interna- of the extraordinary diversity of tropi- tional Union for Conservation of Nature cal rainforests. Spectacular butterflies highlights this disparity. filled the air, and each individual I en- Butterflies are probably the best- countered seemed different from the known group of terrestrial invertebrates, last. In fact, habitats such as tropical for- but we still understand remarkably ests are home to at least half of all spe- little about their conservation status cies on Earth. These are also among the globally. In comparison with birds and most threatened habitats globally, and mammals — for which high-quality in- it seems likely that many tropical for- formation on species distributions, sta- est insects and other invertebrates are tus, and threats is often available — our threatened with extinction. We often knowledge about butterflies is slight. hear about endangered birds, whales, or Thus, it is hardly surprising that verte- primates, but how many of us can name brates rather than invertebrates are typi- a globally endangered butterfly? That cally used to set conservation priorities fewer than four hundred of the planet’s and to monitor trends in biodiversity. eighteen thousand or so butterfly spe- For example, indices showing changes cies have had their global conservation in the status of birds, mammals, and amphibians are now used to track prog- ress toward achieving the conservation commitments made by nations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. We know, however, that invertebrates are key players in many ecosystem func- tions and services, and that they are sensitive bellwethers of environmental change, so it would be helpful if they too could be included in these conservation indices. To address this data gap, the IUCN is mounting a new effort to assess the The IUCN is undertaking an assessment status of the world’s butterflies, the Red of the world’s butterflies, based on a ran- List Index for Butterflies (sampled ap- dom sample of fifteen hundred species. proach), funded by the Esmée Fairbairn This may include rare butterflies as well as Foundation and the Institute of Zoolo- common ones such as the orange tip (An thocharis cardamines), shown here. Photo- gy, part of the Zoological Society of Lon- graph by Silaev Andrey Aleksandrovich, don. The project draws together contri- iStockphoto. butions from an informal network of WINGS The purple sapphire (Heliophorus epicles) has a dramatically different appearance with wings closed and open. Photographed in West Malaysia by Adrian Hoskins. approximately thirty butterfly experts tion and are considered “Threatened.” from all over the world. Currently we Typically, these Red List assessments do not know what fraction of butterflies can be carried out from a desk rather globally is at risk of extinction, whether than in the field, drawing together in- levels of peril vary geographically or formation from scientific publications taxonomically, what the major threats and expert knowledge. Systematic com- to butterflies are, and whether these dif- pilations of data on conservation status fer from those affecting other taxa. As for groups such as butterflies can allow coordinator of this project, I hope that conservationists to identify taxa, re- our work will help to answer all of these gions, or habitats that are of particular questions and will push butterflies, as conservation concern. Furthermore, if flagship invertebrates, higher up the the assessment process is repeated regu- worldwide conservation agenda. larly, then trends can be measured over The IUCN provides a standardized time. This is the logic applied in calcu- method for carrying out assessments lating Red List indices for use as a con- of the conservation status of individual servation monitoring tool; by compar- species and publishes them in the Red ing the number of threatened species in List. Species are assigned threat catego- repeated re-assessments, conservation- ries —“Least Concern,” “Near Threat- ists can determine whether the global ened,” “Vulnerable,” “Endangered,” or regional status of sets of species is im- “Critically Endangered”—based on such proving or deteriorating. factors as rates of population decline, With eighteen thousand species, population size, area of geographic dis- there are too many butterflies on Earth tribution, and the degree of fragmen- for us to assess the conservation status of tation of population and distribution. them all. Instead, our strategy is to focus Those species in the categories “Criti- on a random subset of fifteen hundred cally Endangered,” “Endangered,” and species. A genuinely random sample “Vulnerable” are at high risk of extinc- should be representative of butterflies FALL 2010 of the world, including, for example, the entire Neotropical realm. These lists provided the starting point for compil- ing a global species list. The next challenge is to sort out some of the taxonomic confusion sur- rounding butterfly names. It is not easy to assess the conservation status of a species when its identity is uncertain! But- terfly taxonomy is in a constant state of flux, and much of the information available on particular species may be linked to incorrect or obsolete names. In particular, a great many butterfly names are synonyms — different names applied to the same species. Furthermore, histori- cally, many species have been misclassi- fied, and in many cases individuals have been misidentified, providing mislead- The Indian fritillary (Argynnis hyperbius) ing information on distributions. All has a wide distribution from East Africa across South and Southeast Asia to Japan, of these problems require considerable and south to New Zealand. Photograph by detective work to resolve. Masaki Ikeda. Once these taxonomic problems have been adequately addressed, the more widely in terms of the geographic next stage is to gather relevant infor- and taxonomic spread of species as well mation on the selected species, by con- as being indicative of their conservation sulting experts and by using whatever status, and thus should provide an unbi- sources of information are available in ased assessment of butterflies as a whole.

Load more