WINGS ESSAYS ON INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION

THE XERCES SOCIETY SPRING 2012 CONTENTS

Introduction: Life on the Edge Scott Hoffman Black Page 3.

Summertime Blues Mitchell Magdich The historically had a range that stretched from virtually to the Atlantic, but the had vanished from most of that area. Now, thanks to twenty years of hard work, the Karner blue has been re-established in Ohio. Page 4. The Silence of the Bees Sarina Jepsen Although bumble bees are a defining feature of the landscape, a handful of are disappearing in North America. Concerted effort by citizens, scientists, and con- servation groups is helping to understand and save these essential pollinators. Page 9. Shedding Light on Little-Known Lives Sarah Foltz Jordan Large areas of the Pacific Northwest are managed by federal agencies. Xerces has been collaborating with those agencies to understand and protect many of the rare invertebrate species that are under their care. Page 14. The Aloha Bees Karl Magnacca The oceanic islands of Hawaii are home to many unique species of wildlife. The only bees native to the islands are tiny yellow-faced bees in the Hylaeus. Page 19. Invertebrates and the Endangered Species Act Scott Hoffman Black Since its passage in 1973, the ESA has been both lauded and reviled, but it remains a powerful tool for protection of rare invertebrates. Page 24. Xerces News Xerces shares in conservation award; protection for the Arapahoe snowfly; a new report on neonicotinoids and bees; Xerces launches Bring Back the Pollinators cam- paign; Xerces staff grows; 2012 Joan Mosenthal DeWind Award winners. Page 29.

 WINGS Introduction: Life on the Edge

Scott Hoffman Black

“Endangered.” “Threatened.” “Critically In our third essay, Sarah Foltz Jordan imperiled.” “At-risk.” These are all terms relates why and how she became a con- we use to describe the plight of declining servation detective, gathering informa- species, but what insight do they give us tion necessary for effective conservation about conserving the that most action by federal agencies in Oregon and need protection? The essays in this issue . From the Pacific Northwest of Wings include stories of conservation we travel to Hawaii, where Karl Magnac- success, nationwide citizen action, and ca fills us in on efforts on behalf of the dogged sleuthing, all in the cause of pro- islands’ native yellow-faced bees. Last, I tecting invertebrates. write about and the Endangered We start with Mitchell Magdich Species Act, the only national law in the sharing his story of returning the Kar­ that specifically protects ner blue butterfly to Ohio. Sarina Jepsen imperiled insects and their habitats. then introduces us to the world of at-risk Our hope is to provide a deeper un- bumble bees, in particular the ongoing derstanding of the range of efforts dedi- efforts to understand why several spe- cated to the preservation of rare inver- cies are in steep decline in the United tebrates, and to inspire greater action to States, and to find ways to stop it. save animals living on the edge.

The Delhi Sands flower-loving flyRaphiomidas ( terminatus abdominalis) is the only protected in the continental United States. It is found in a small re- gion centered on the city of Colton, California. Photograph by Guy Bruyea.

SPRING 2012  Summertime Blues

Mitchell Magdich

On a warm, sunny, June morning in that the zoo’s collection might include 1940, Homer Price played hooky from the rarest of Ohio’s rare species, such as his farm chores. He intended to spy out the frosted elfin Callophrys( irus), Persius and, he hoped, collect a few of the rarer (Erynnis persius), or Dorcas that he’d seen in past years in copper ( dorcas). I was especially an area now known as the Open- interested in the possibility of finding a ings, in Lucas County, Ohio. Homer Karner blue in the collection, a species was particularly fond of the sand dunes to which I’m particularly attached. As I there, where he had spotted dozens of went through dozens of specimen draw- diminutive Scudder’s blue butterflies ers, I found one labeled “” the previous season. He would love to (the family to which the Karner blue be- add one of the gorgeous, bright-blue longs) and quickly pulled it out, anxious males to his collection, and this would to view the contents. There were about be a perfect day to net a fresh adult in two dozen blues of various species in mint condition. the drawer. Five drew my attention be- When Homer arrived, lupine, the cause of their unusual labels: “Lycaena host plant of the Scudder’s blue, was scudderi, Luc. Co., Jun. 1940.” I popped in full bloom, and the landscape lead- the lid of the drawer to get a closer look. ing up to the nearly naked sand dunes They looked like Karner blues to me — was thick with amethyst-colored blos- three males and two females. soms. Homer stepped ever so cautiously And then I remembered. It had not through the lupine, his eyes feasting on been until l944 that Vladimir Nabokov dozens of Scudder’s blues on the wing. described Lycaeides melissa samuelis, He spotted a fresh-looking male tak- a change necessitated in part because ing nectar from a blossom just a foot or Nabokov concluded that the name two away and, with a quick flash of the “scudderi” properly belonged to a dif- net, he had his prize. Homer netted two ferent species, so it made sense that I more males and two females that morn- wouldn’t find labels identifying Karner ing, before heading home. blues among this collection from four years earlier. Now, seeing these speci- Skip forward half a century to a cold, mens from 1940 brought all sorts of cloudy, February day in 1991. A rela- images to mind. I instantly pictured tively new employee at the Toledo Zoo, I Homer Price, one of the more prominent had recently discovered a treasure trove butterfly collectors in northwest Ohio of well-preserved butterflies hidden from the late 1930s through the mid- away in the bowels of the zoo’s Museum 1960s. I had once seen a photograph of of Science. As an enthusiast of rare local him, wearing bib overalls and holding butterflies, I was elated at the prospect a homemade butterfly net with a hoop

 WINGS The Karner blue ( melissa samuelis) is distributed from Wis- consin to the Atlantic, but there are many areas within that range from which it has disappeared. Photograph by Doug Taron. at least four feet in diameter. It seems a there, I struck up a friendship with Dr. bit comical to imagine such a large net Peter Tolson, the director of conserva- being used to capture a butterfly as pe- tion and research. Peter was interested tite as the Karner blue. There were prob- in getting the zoo more involved in local ably occasions when, with his large net, conservation efforts, and, because I had Homer could have captured a dozen or previously worked with Toledo Metro­ more Karner blues in a single swing. parks and the Ohio Department of Nat- Tragically, times have changed. The ural Resources (DNR) on local butterfly Karner blue had been extirpated from conservation projects, my arrival was Ohio, a victim of habitat loss, degrada- fortuitous. I took Peter on a tour around tion, and fragmentation. With a dedi- the Oak Openings, the most biologi- cated group of volunteers I had spent the cally diverse habitat in Ohio, and home spring and summer of 1988 looking for to more rare species of flora and fauna Karner blue populations in northwest than any other region of the state. Peter Ohio. We traipsed nearly every lupine was captivated by the story of the Karner patch in the county to find only three blue in Ohio, and with the addition of a males. That was the last year in which a trip to Michigan to see Karners on the native Karner blue was seen in the state. wing, he was hooked. Little did I know that my coming Work began in earnest in 1992, to the Toledo Zoo would help to bring when, with a small grant from the DNR about a change in fortune for the Karner Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, blue in Ohio. Shortly after starting work the Ohio Karner Blue Butterfly Recovery

SPRING 2012  Team was formed. The team comprised Nature Conservancy’s Kitty Todd Pre- representatives of several nonprofit or- serve outside Swanton, Ohio. Kitty ganizations and government agencies, Todd was the site of the last recorded with each organization agreeing to a population of the Karner blue in Ohio specific role. The purchase and restora- before it winked out in 1988, and most tion of potential release sites was un- of the critical elements for reintroduc- dertaken by the Nature Conservancy, ing the butterfly were still in place, in- Toledo Metroparks, and Ohio DNR. cluding a sprinkling of wild lupine and Michigan DNR allowed site access for nectar plants. Intensive habitat man- collecting breeding stock. The neces- agement by Nature Conservancy staff sary federal permits were provided by over the next several years dramatically the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and increased the number and density of state permits by Michigan and Ohio the lupine and nectar plants and set the DNRs; Ohio DNR also provided project stage for the reintroduction. oversight. Technical assistance came At the Toledo Zoo, with several small from the USFWS and Ohio Lepidopter- grants from Ohio DNR, we built a poly- ists. The Toledo Zoo was responsible for ethylene greenhouse to pilot the pro- developing captive breeding and hus- duction of wild lupine ( perennis) bandry techniques, propagating lupine, from seed. Since its first crop in1993 , the and conducting habitat analysis. zoo has successfully grown thousands The team decided that the first re­ of plants, an important component of introduction would take place at the both the captive breeding program and

A male Karner blue on perennial lupine (), the only plant its caterpillars will eat. Photograph by Carly Voight.

 WINGS the habitat restoration. Parallel to this, were packed in a cooler; the chill and Peter and I spent several years working darkness would keep the adults inactive with a surrogate species, the during the three-hour trip. (Lycaeides melissa melissa) to refine our Back at the zoo, each female was captive breeding protocols, rearing this placed on a lush lupine plant growing species through several generations. in a two-gallon container. The vial of Our most intensive efforts came sugar solution was placed in the soil, in 1996 and 1997, when we conducted and the whole container covered with a an analysis of both the habitat at Kitty net. After a day or two the females began Todd as it was being restored and occu- to lay their on the lupine. Once the pied habitat at existing Karner blue sites eggs hatched, the real work began. Grow- in Michigan. Over two field seasons, we ing larvae can consume huge amounts measured the abundance and density of of lupine, especially in the late both host and nectar plants during the (growth stages). The captive larvae were Karner blue’s two flight periods —late checked daily and moved to fresh plants May through early June and early to late as needed. When the larvae reached the July. We compared data from Kitty Todd last , a bark chip was placed on the with that from Michigan’s occupied soil surface of the container to provide a sites, using this analysis to inform the place for them to hide during pupation. restoration project as it was taking place. In early July, within two months of If our enhanced habitats compared well the butterflies’ arrival, dozens of pupae with the reference sites, it would serve as were darkening, indicating that the a good predictor for a successful reintro- adults would soon be eclosing (emerg- duction. The news was good. Several of ing). The males emerged first, followed a the restored sites at Kitty Todd compared few days later by the females. They were favorably with several of the Michigan cared for at the zoo until a few dozen sites occupied by Karner blues. adults were ready for release, then care- By the spring of 1998 all of the fully transferred to a net enclosure for heavy lifting was done. Lupine plants transport to Kitty Todd. At the preserve, were growing, the restorations were Peter and I were followed by a throng of well underway, the habitat analysis was media and agency officials as we jour- complete, captive breeding techniques neyed the final half mile to the desig- had been devised, and the permits nated release site. With everyone primed were all in place. On a beautiful day in and ready, the enclosure was opened late May, Peter and I, accompanied by and the Karner blue butterfly was on a contingent from the recovery team, the wing in Ohio for the first time in ten headed to the Allegan State Game Area years. The dream was realized. in Michigan to collect the founders for That first year we released 276 adult the captive breeding program. We net- Karner blues. Much has happened since. ted twenty-six female Karner blues, and A project coordinator, Candee Ells- sequestered each one in its own plas- worth, was hired by the zoo to oversee tic box, fitted with a vial and a cotton the Karner blue captive breeding pro- wick saturated with a sugar solution, for gram. A new state-of-the-art butterfly transport to Toledo. The plastic boxes conservation facility was built on zoo

SPRING 2012  Successful reintroduction of the Karner blue to Ohio was possible only with careful plan- ning and habitat restoration. Photograph by Mitchell Magdich. grounds, allowing the public to see the pears to be thriving. Although the Oak operation firsthand. Under Candee’s di- Openings is far different today from rection and with continued refinement what Homer Price experienced on that of our captive breeding strategies and beautiful day in June 1940, one thing is the aid of the new facility, production certain: The Karner blue is back in Ohio. has more than doubled—and more than I think Homer would be very pleased. 8,150 Karner blue butterflies have now been released at five locations in north- west Ohio and southeast Michigan. Mitchell Magdich, a conservation biolo- We have had our setbacks too, of gist engaged in protection of endangered course. In 2006, for instance, a late May butterflies, is curator of education at the freeze nearly wiped out that season’s co- Toledo Zoo. He would like to acknowledge hort not long after it was released. But the members of the Ohio Karner Blue But- hundreds of acres of Karner blue habitat terfly Recovery Team, whose commitment have been restored or acquired, and re- made the reintroduction of the Karner blue production and dispersal have contin- to Ohio a reality. In particular, Dr. Peter ued. The most exciting development in Tolson has been tireless in his efforts to the last few years has been the dispersal conserve endangered butterflies. Candee of Karner blues to restored habitat near- Ellsworth, conservation coordinator at the ly a mile away from one of the previous Toledo Zoo, has played an essential role in release sites, and that population ap- the Karner blue captive breeding effort.

 WINGS The Silence of the Bees

Sarina Jepsen

The gap between trees in which Dr. plummeting, the commercial bumble Robbin Thorp stood on the slopes of bee industry reported that there had Oregon’s Mt. Ashland may not have been an outbreak of the fungal patho- resembled the “bee-loud glade” envi- gen Nosema bombi in laboratory colonies sioned by Wiliam Butler Yeats in The of the western bumble bee, and the com- Isle of Innisfree, but it was humming panies eventually discontinued produc- with bees. Dr. Thorp was keenly aware tion of this species. Prior to this, in the of the bumble bees moving from flow- early 1990s, North American bumble er to flower, but maybe more so of the bees had been sent to Europe to pre- bumble bees that were not. This sunny pare them for domestication. When the spot was the last place Thorp had seen bees were shipped back, they may have Franklin’s bumble bee (Bombus franklini) brought with them pathogens acquired in a previous year’s visit, making him from European bees. possibly the last person to see this bee alive. After a career working on crop pol- lination at UC Davis, in retirement Dr. Thorp focused more on native bees and their conservation. In 1998, he began yearly surveys of the bumble bee com- munity in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon, and, within just a few years, had witnessed a dramatic decline in two species, Franklin’s bumble bee and the western bumble bee (B. occiden- talis). Franklin’s bumble bee has one of the smallest distributions of any bumble bee in the world, but the western bum- ble bee was formerly a very common and widespread species, so much so that it had even been domesticated and used as a commercial pollinator. Actually, the use of the western bumble bee as a commercial pollinator may well have been a major factor re- sponsible for its decline, as well as that A rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus af- of Franklin’s bumble bee. Around the finis), found and photographed by Jen same time that Dr. Thorp noticed the Knutson, one of hundreds of citizen sci- populations of these two western species entists who searched for this rare bee.

SPRING 2012  In light of these events, Dr. Thorp cranberries, peppers, and a variety of hypothesized that an exotic pathogen other fruit and vegetable crops. had spread from commercial bumble Initially, two bumble bees were bees, wreaking havoc on the wild popu- commercially available in the United lations. His hypothesis is supported by States, each in its native range: the west- the timing, speed, and severity of the ern bumble bee in the western states, declines seen in the two western spe- and the common eastern bumble bee cies, and also in two closely related east- (B. impatiens) east of the Rockies. For a ern species, the rusty-patched bumble time, the U.S. Department of Agricul- bee (B. affinis) and the yellow-banded ture’s and Plant Health Inspec- bumble bee (B. terricola). According to a tion Service (APHIS) had a policy of not recent study led by Dr. Sydney Cameron allowing bumble bees to be shipped out- of the University of Illinois at Urbana- side their native ranges. This policy was Champaign, the ranges of these two spe- based on a risk assessment conducted cies have contracted by an estimated 87 in 1993, which concluded that releas- percent and 31 percent, respectively. Dr. ing the common eastern bumble bee in Cameron also has found that declining the western United States would pose a species of bumble bees collected in the significant risk to wild bumble bees be- wild have higher rates of Nosema bombi cause the eastern bees might compete and lower genetic diversity than species with, and perhaps eliminate, western of bumble bees that aren’t declining. species. APHIS also found that exotic The reason for domestication of diseases might be introduced. bumble bees is primarily to pollinate But when disease problems caused greenhouse tomatoes, replacing the commercial breeders to abandon pro- more cost-intensive hand pollination. duction of the western bumble bee, Bumble bees are used because of their APHIS disregarded its own risk assess- ability to “buzz-pollinate,” a fascinat- ment and began allowing eastern bum- ing behavior in which the bee disen- ble bees to be shipped to the western gages her wings from her flight muscles United States. In issuing permits to in- and then vibrates those muscles, caus- troduce an exotic species into a new area ing her body to quiver and thereby without evaluating the environmental shake the pollen loose from the tomato impacts, APHIS was in violation of the flower; without the vibration, the pollen National Environmental Policy Act. would remain in the anther. You can ac- Perhaps to address this situation, APHIS tually hear a buzzing sound when she decided in 1998 to stop regulating com- does this. The year-round availability of mercial bumble bees altogether, and beautiful tomatoes in the supermarket is left the matter up to individual states. a relatively new phenomenon, and the (APHIS representatives have since stated rise of this industry is intimately linked that their agency never actually had the to the increased use of commercial legal authority to regulate bumble bees.) bumble bees. (Honey bees cannot buzz- Since then, only Oregon has developed ­pollinate.) Commercial bumble bees are regulations to prohibit nonnative bum- also being used with increasing regular- ble bees from being shipped into the ity for the pollination of blueberries, state. The California Environmental

10 WINGS The yellow-banded bumble bee (Bombus terricola) was previously common from the Upper Midwest to the Atlantic. Photograph by Leif Richardson.

Quality Act stipulates that commercial bees have been observed in the wild in bumble bees can be used only in green- Australia, Mexico, and Canada. As com- houses, and not for the pollination of mercial bumble bees are introduced into open-field crops. All other western states new areas, pathogens and parasites — allow shipments of eastern bumble bees which scientists are just beginning to to enter without any restrictions. identify and understand—likely come As I learned more about the lack of with them. In Japan, for instance, the regulations covering the movement of commercial use of bumble bees has led bumble bees, I became concerned about to infestation of wild bumble bees there the many potential risks that this grow- with nonnative mites. ing industry poses to wild bumble bees Grappling with the decline of many throughout the world. Not only are non- species of North American bumble bees, native commercial bumble bees from the I set out to examine whether APHIS has eastern United States shipped to most the legal authority to regulate their western states without restriction, but movement. Lori Ann Burd, at the time the European buff-tailed bumble bee (B. a recent graduate of Lewis & Clark Law terrestris) has been introduced to more School, in Portland, Oregon, joined than ten countries and in many cases me in this effort, and together we de- has quickly spread away from the farms termined that APHIS does in fact have where it was used. Nonnative bumble clear authority under the Plant Protec- bees are already established in Argen- tion Act— and potentially under two tina, Chile, Israel, Japan, Tasmania, and other statutes—to regulate commercial New Zealand, and nonnative bumble bumble bees within the United States.

SPRING 2012 11 velop a conservation strategy for North America’s bumble bees. A representative of APHIS attended that meeting and stated publicly that the agency indeed possesses the legal authority to regu- late the movement and disease status of bumble bees under the Plant Protection Act. This was a dramatic change from their previous position, but, to date, APHIS still has not established any new regulations. Although pathogens are one of the primary suspected causes of the decline of at least four species, North America’s bumble bees are facing other threats, in- cluding habitat loss and fragmentation, the extensive use of pesticides, overgraz- ing, and climate change. The latter is already disrupting the delicately timed relationships of plants and their pollina- tors, and may pose a particular threat to the rich bumble bee fauna in alpine and The common eastern bumble bee (Bom- bus impatiens) is commercially reared sub-alpine habitats. and sold as a crop pollinator. Photograph Perhaps one of the most signifi- by David Morrison. cant threats to bumble bees is our lack of knowledge regarding their distribu- We developed a petition outlining tion, population status, and population this authority and asking APHIS to disal- trends. We became aware of the declines low the shipping of bumble bees outside of the western and Franklin’s bumble their native ranges and to require that bees only because Dr. Thorp happened any bumble bees being moved within to be looking; his findings catalyzed ac- their native ranges be certified as dis- tion by the conservation and research ease-free. The petition was submitted in communities. January 2010 by the Xerces Society, Dr. To help fill the knowledge gap about Thorp, the Defenders of Wildlife, and North American bumble bees, Xerces the Natural Resources Defense Council. has undertaken several projects in col- More than sixty scientists signed a let- laboration with Dr. Thorp, beginning in ter in support of our petition, including 2005 with the creation of Red List pro- many of the world’s leading bumble bee files for four species of bumble bee, fol- researchers. lowed in 2008 by a status review of three Following submission of the peti- formerly common bumble bee species. tion, the Xerces Society helped to or- To document the distribution of ganize an international meeting at the the western, rusty-patched, and yellow- Saint Louis Zoo in November 2010 to de- banded bumble bees, we established a

12 WINGS citizen monitoring program three years In 2010, the Xerces Society filed a ago. Elaine Evans, now a doctoral stu- petition to list Franklin’s bumble bee as dent at the University of Minnesota, was endangered under the U.S. Endangered instrumental in developing “wanted” Species Act. In response to our petition, posters and pocket-sized identification the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is un- guides for the three species. More than dertaking a status review to determine a thousand people have contributed whether Franklin’s bumble bee will re- observations, resulting in more than ceive federal protection. forty confirmed records of these bees. Dr. Thorp continues to visit the Sis- Such citizen observations have greatly kiyou Mountains every summer to look expanded our understanding of the cur- for bumble bees. Although he hasn’t re- rent distribution of these imperiled spe- cently found Franklin’s bumble bee, last cies, providing information that is abso- summer he found the western bumble lutely essential to their conservation. bee in two different places, giving hope On an international scale, we that—with the help of citizens and con- worked with Dr. Paul Williams of Lon- servationists—bumble bees will weather don’s Natural History Museum and the storm and continue to hum through other scientists around the world to our fields and meadows. form the Bumblebee Specialist Group of the International Union for Conser- vation of Nature. The primary goal of Sarina Jepsen directs Xerces’ endangered this group is to complete a status assess- species program and is deputy chair of the ment of the approximately 250 species Bumblebee Specialist Group of the Interna- of bumble bees worldwide. tional Union for Conservation of Nature.

Franklin’s bumble bee (Bombus franklini) was last seen on the slopes of Mt. Ashland, Oregon, in 2006. Photograph by Dr. Peter Schroeder.

SPRING 2012 13 Shedding Light on Little-Known Lives

Sarah Foltz Jordan

When I talk with my younger brother rare invertebrate population should about my work at Xerces, he often acts trump, say, a road-widening project, is confused. Lacking the “but, it’s so pre- not based on what these animals con- cious!” mentality that I was born with, tribute to human existence, but rather he wants to know what a tiny caddisfly is an acknowledgment that, here, in our that hardly anyone has even heard of is midst, are unique and wonderful spe- worth, and he asks what this seemingly cies, with longstanding relationships insignificant animal does for us. with their place. The answer, I tell him, is “plenty.” The Puget blue (Plebejus icarioides Caddisflies recycle nutrients, provide blackmorei) is one example, a butterfly critical food for fish and birds, and, as whose caterpillars are milked, not unlike indicator species, alert us to pollution cows, by industrious ants who carefully levels and habitat degradation in rivers collect the larvae’s sweet, nitrogen-rich and lakes. But that’s not really the dis- “honeydew”—exudates—while simulta- cussion I want to have. As entomologist- neously warding off dangerous parasit- turned-philosopher Jeffrey Lockwood oid insects that are keen on laying eggs writes, “To ask what a life, human or in the living caterpillars. There’s the , is ‘good for’ presumes that value salmon coil (Helicodiscus salmonaceus), a lies in utility, and that worth is not in- timid, delicately coiled snail with blind, trinsic.” In other words, the reason a pigmentless eyestalks, which lives in

Ants tend caterpillars of the Puget blue (Plebejus icarioides blackmorei). The ants gather honeydew secreted by the caterpillars; in return, they protect the caterpillars from predators. Photograph by Caitlin LaBar.

14 WINGS Notwithstanding the presence of what appear to be eyestalks, the salmon coil (Helicodiscus salmonaceus) is sightless and must rely on other senses to understand its environment. Photograph by William Leonard. dry, stony habitats, such as under rock In the Pacific Northwest, a federal piles, where it appears to rely entirely on program known as ISSSSP (Interagency touch, taste, and smell to gain informa- Special Status/Sensitive Species Pro- tion about its surroundings. And there’s gram) is also concerned with these is- the Wahkeena Falls flightless stonefly sues. A consortium of the Oregon and (Nanonemoura wahkeena), confined to a Washington regional offices of the single Oregon stream and so bizarre in a U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of number of characteristics, including its Land Management (BLM), the ISSSSP abnormally long, grasshopper-like legs, seeks to improve the conservation and that it has been assigned its own genus. management of rare plant, fungal, and This list could go on and on. animal species. This program focuses As development, agriculture, log- on providing regional protection for ging, and other activities continue to federal “candidate” species and other take their toll on the landscape, the rare species that meet agency criteria responsibility to protect species like for inclusion on sensitive lists. Such cri- these —and the habitats in which they teria include documented occurrence live —has never been greater. Here at on Forest Service or BLM land and suf- Xerces, there is no shortage of rare in- ficient rarity, decline, or habitat threat vertebrates on our radar. The problem to cause the species to be designated we face, then, is this: how do we allocate by NatureServe and statewide National limited resources to the species most in Heritage Programs as “critically imper- need of, and most likely to benefit from, iled,” “imperiled,” or “vulnerable.” If conservation efforts? these criteria are met, the agencies’ land

SPRING 2012 15 To support conservation of the Coronis fritillary (Speyeria coronis), Xerces staff members gathered historic records and unpublished data, carried out surveys, and trained agency staff. Photograph by Bill Bouton.

­managers are required to ensure appro- specimens, and develop contacts with priate protection for these species dur- people who are attentive to each spe- ing land management activities. cies. Fortunately, the Pacific Northwest For three years, the Xerces Society is home to a large number of researchers, has worked with the ISSSSP’s inverte- collectors, photographers, professors, brate sector, gathering information on graduate students, authors, land manag- Pacific Northwest invertebrates and ers, museum curators, and agency staff helping to identify species of conser- members whose collective knowledge vation concern. For the most part, our and amazing generosity have been in- focus has been on what the ISSSSP calls valuable to this work. “strategic” species, those that meet all Gathering and mapping all known but one criterion for being designated as records enables us to delineate more ac- “sensitive.” Typically, these species are curately where a given species occurs, suspected to occur on Forest Service or and to assess whether it is either docu- BLM land in Washington or Oregon but mented or suspected to be present on are not yet documented there, which Forest Service or BLM land. Finding re- prevents them from being listed as sensi- cords of a species on land managed by tive and receiving the special treatment one of these agencies is often the final that goes along with that status. piece of the puzzle that allows the spe- Working as invertebrate detectives, cies to be classified as sensitive. Informa- we scour field guides and scientific jour- tion is organized into species fact sheets nals, search online databases, visit mu- that are distributed to agency biolo- seums to inspect the labels on historic gists, and also made publicly available

16 WINGS on both the Xerces Society and ISSSSP re-worked in a variety of ways in order websites. to reduce impacts on sensitive species or Up to this point, Xerces’ work with even potentially to benefit them. In con- the ISSSSP has enabled us to gather ex- trast, if a species is not on the sensitive tensive information on more than 150 list, projects may occur without con- Pacific Northwest invertebrates, en- sideration of how such a species might abling inventory, research, and monitor- be affected. Because many of these spe- ing for these animals to be prioritized. cies are rare, threatened, or declining, As a result, twenty-nine species have yet have no federal or state protection, been reclassified as sensitive in one or their status change is an opportunity for both states and two species have moved them to receive basic conservation con- from being without status to being clas- sideration, albeit only on land managed sified as strategic. While these status by the BLM or the Forest Service. changes might not sound like much, For both strategic and sensitive spe- they are important drivers of species cies, targeted survey efforts can help es- conservation on Forest Service and BLM tablish abundance, status, and habitat land. A sensitive species must be evalu- requirements at known and new sites. ated when one of the agencies is devel- Surveys can also be useful in detecting oping a project—for timber operations which species occur in areas proposed or road construction, for instance —to for logging or other land management determine the potential effect of the activities. In an effort to assess the value project on the species. Then, according of surveying the large number of spe- to ISSSSP conservation planning coordi- cies on which we have gathered data, we nator Rob Huff, project plans might be have developed a prioritization rubric to

The western ridged mussel (Gonidea angulata) has disappeared from many creeks, and work by the Xerces Society is helping to determine the extent of its decline. Photograph by Jayne Brim-Box, courtesy Con- federated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Mussel Project.

SPRING 2012 17 help determine where—and where not— it one of fourteen sensitive or strategic to direct survey funding. Conservation species that have been funded for survey need, habitat restriction, habitat threat, work. Although this is relatively and likelihood of occurrence on BLM or widespread, occurring from Washing- Forest Service land are heavily weighted ton’s Puget Sound to northern Oregon, variables in this rubric, while ease of its sphagnum habitat has become ex- survey and ease of identification are tremely rare in the region, largely due to weighted to a lesser degree. This tool has development and logging. Habitat loss already been used to guide decisions. is further exacerbated by the fact that Let’s consider a few species. The this beetle is incapable of flight and can Oregon giant ( disperse to a new habitat only by walk- macelfreshi) is a worm Americans can ing—a difficult feat when suitable bogs be proud of. This pale whitish creature are few and far between. High conserva- is one of the largest in the tion need resulted in the selection of this world — it can grow to well over four species for attention. Surveys targeting feet long!—and emits a peculiar, floral this species and another bog-dependent aroma when handled, giving rise to the beetle will take place this spring. genus name Driloleirus, “lily-like worm.” And so, what started out three years This rarely encountered species was his- ago as little more than a list of names torically known from just fifteen sites in has been transformed into an organized Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where wide- compilation of information that can be spread conversion of land for agricul- used to evaluate the occurrence of these ture, industry, and urban and suburban animals on federal lands, direct survey development has now eliminated much attention toward high-priority species, of the worms’ suitable habitat. The es- and provide rare species with basic con- tablishment of nonnative earthworms servation consideration on the national poses further harm to this species, as forest and BLM lands where they occur. the introduced worms not only compete We’re hopeful that this work will con- with the native worms for food, but also tinue to inform management decisions raise the pH of the soil, lessening its suit- in the Pacific Northwest, and, ultimate- ability for the , ly, will help to increase the ability of rare which tends to thrive in more acidic species to hold their ground in a rapidly earth. It’s clear that this worm deserves changing landscape — so that the ant a fairly high score in terms of conserva- may go on milking the caterpillar and tion need. However, most known sight- the snail can continue creeping, blindly, ings were chance encounters decades under rock piles in the dark. ago, making it exceptionally difficult to conduct any systematic survey, so al- locating energy and funding for survey- Sarah Foltz Jordan is a conservation asso- ing this species is not likely to be very ciate for the endangered species program at rewarding. Accordingly, this species re- the Xerces Society, where she works closely ceives a low score in our rubric. with the ISSSSP staff to gather information In contrast, Beller’s on rare, threatened invertebrates of the Pa- (Agonum belleri) scores high, making cific Northwest.

18 WINGS The Aloha Bees

Karl Magnacca

Of all the oceanic islands in the world— take advantage of ecological opportuni- that is, those that have never been part ties. In the process, their groups often of a continental landmass—the Hawai- became much more species-rich than ian archipelago is unique in the way they are anywhere else. that its native flora and fauna have de- For example, although predatory veloped. The combination of geological Lispocephala are found worldwide, age, diverse habitats, and extreme isola- there are more species in Hawaii than tion (from continents and from other in the rest of the world combined. Simi- islands) has resulted in the evolution of larly, the Orthotylus leaf bugs, a group more than six thousand species of na- of specialist plant feeders once thought tive insects from only about 250 origi- to comprise only a handful of species, nal colonists. With so little founding are now known to number more than a diversity represented, those few insects hundred. The Hyposmocoma case-mak- that did arrive in the islands evolved to ing , members of an obscure and

The islands of Hawaii have only one genus of native bees, Hylaeus, and many species of Hawaiian Hylaeus are threatened by habitat destruction and other factors. Hylaeus in a flower of ’ulei (Hawaiian rose, Osteomeles ­anthyllidifoli), photographed by John Kaia, Malama Photography.

SPRING 2012 19 poorly known family, evidently evolved from a myriad of lineages, including six from one ancestor that colonized Hawaii families and thirty-six genera, and most into more than five hundred species are more closely related to species found that feed on everything from lichens on in distant areas than they are to those alpine rocks, to dead wood, to algae in in the immediate vicinity. In Hawaii, flowing streams, to live snails. by contrast, all sixty-two species have The native bees of Hawaii are simi- evolved recently from a single ancestor larly intriguing. With sixty-two species that arrived in the islands just a few mil- of bees across the islands, the Hawai- lion years ago. ian bees are not particularly diverse by Furthermore, that one species ar- global standards. By comparison, in the rival consisted of yellow-faced bees of ecologically rather homogeneous town the genus Hylaeus, one of a group of of Ithaca, , more than 250 bee mostly small, inconspicuous bees in the species can be found in an area of only family Colletidae that are found world- thirty-six square miles. But the type of wide but are diverse only in Australia. diversity is strikingly different from one As a result, there are more species of place to the other. Those species found Hylaeus in Hawaii than there are in all in New York, as on any continent, come of North America. As the only bees na- tive to the islands, they adapted to oc- cupy virtually every habitat, from the driest coastlines at the ocean’s edge, to the wettest mountain rainforests where there is barely enough sun for them to forage, to alpine deserts above ten thou- sand feet where they visit flowers of the silversword plants and their relatives. The Hawaiian bees are characterized by behavior that makes them unique among Colletidae. About a quarter of all of the world’s bees are cleptoparasites (“cuckoo bees”); instead of visiting flow- ers and collecting pollen and nectar, they lay their eggs in the nests of other bee species. Their larvae then hatch and feed on the stored food, either killing the host eggs or larvae directly or caus- ing them to starve. Cleptoparasitism has evolved multiple times within different families of bees but is absent from the family Colletidae — except in Hawaii, These tiny bees are black, although most where a group of five related spe- species have yellow markings, giving rise Hylaeus to their common name, “yellow-faced cies has evolved this behavior. bees.” Hylaeus sphecodoides, photographed As change came to the islands, first by Karl Magnacca. with the arrival of the Polynesian peo-

20 WINGS ple more than eight centuries ago and then accelerating dramatically follow- ing European contact in the late 1700s, Hawaii’s native species, including its insects, were under pressure to adapt to new and changing environments. The islands’ native plants, having evolved in isolation with no native mammals aside from one species of , and under conditions of relatively low natural fire frequency, lacked the genetic capacity to adapt to the alterations brought by humans. Although fire has always been pres- ent due to lightning strikes and other natural phenomena, new plant species introduced by people —whether inten- tionally or accidentally — colonized burned areas more quickly than native species. Rats, followed by cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep, radically altered the veg- etation, changing forests to grasslands and preventing reproduction of some of Yellow-faced bees in North America nor- the most important native plants. Earth- mally nest in hollow stems, but in Hawaii worms also have had a dramatic effect about a quarter of the species nest in the by changing the nutrient balance in for- ground. Hylaeus difficilis, photographed ests and providing food for pigs, which by Karl Magnacca. dig up the ground and disrupt the lives of native species. focus on pollinator conservation world- Still, throughout all of this upheav- wide, the Hawaiian Hylaeus bees are fi- al, the bees have managed to persist. Al- nally starting to get the attention they though they are widespread—the great deserve. naturalist R. C. L. Perkins called them A comprehensive revision of the tax- “almost the most ubiquitous of any Ha- onomy of this remarkable group in 2003 waiian insects”—the yellow-faced bees described ten hitherto unrecognized are relatively inconspicuous, and, after species and provided an identification Perkins’ work in the early 1900s, they key for the first time, facilitating further were largely forgotten. Most people — investigation. Since then, studies of the including many biologists— don’t real- Hawaiian bees have proliferated in sev- ize that there are native bees in Hawaii, eral areas of ecology and conservation and the author of one paper in a major biology. Work is currently underway to scientific journal even said, incorrectly, look at pollen usage, pollination ecol- that all of them were extinct. Over the ogy, and the impact of such invasive last decade, however, with an increased species as ants and yellowjackets.

SPRING 2012 21 Unfortunately, not all is sunshine than eighty years and may be extinct and roses for the bees. A conservation already. While the numbers of protect- assessment in 2006 found that, mainly ed sites and the area they include have due to loss of habitat, nearly half of the both increased significantly over the last species are at risk of extinction, includ- decade, the amount of funding for spe- ing ten that have not been seen in more cies protection has not. Recent cuts in

Loss of habitat has been a major reason for the declines in Hawaii’s native bees. Squeezed between farmland and alien forest above and the ocean below, the tiny pale green patches of vegetation at the water’s edge constitute the only known site for Hylaeus psammobius. Photograph by Forest and Kim Starr.

22 WINGS The role of bees as key pollinators of many of Hawaii’s unique and rare plants is illustrated by the pollen grains coating this Hylaeus. Photograph by John Kaia, Malama Photography. agricultural inspections, together with, by the U.S. Department of Defense Leg- since 2001, the diversion of inspectors to acy Resource Management Program. security rather than agriculture or natu- As the administrator of large areas of ral resource protection, have resulted in land on Oahu and Hawaii islands, and increasing numbers of invasive species as overseer of some of the best remain- arriving in the islands. These invasives ing native habitats, the Department of include predators that eat bees, as well as Defense has both a legal and an ethical nonnative bees that compete for pollen obligation to preserve the unique natu- and nectar. ral resources that exist within its juris- Last year, following the submission diction. In addition, Army environmen- of petitions by the Xerces Society, seven tal field crews conduct a large portion of species (Hylaeus anthracinus, H. assimu- the endangered species management on lans, H. facilis, H. hilaris, H. kuakea, H. state lands. longiceps, and H. mana) were listed as With collaborations such as this, in candidate endangered species under conjunction with other efforts by the the Endangered Species Act. Although Hawaiian conservation community, we listing species as candidates does not hope to preserve the remarkable diver- guarantee them a better future, it is an sity of the Hawaiian bees. important step in bringing about man- agement action, particularly on the state and federal lands where most of these Karl Magnacca is an entomologist with the species are found. Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife. In anticipation of the listings, the He has worked in insect evolution, ecology, Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wild- and conservation biology in Hawaii since life has been conducting a survey of the 1994, and has a special interest in the is- islands’ rare bee populations, funded lands’ Hylaeus.

SPRING 2012 23 Invertebrates and the Endangered Species Act

Scott Hoffman Black

As different as they are, the Karner blue In his signing statement President butterfly, the American burying beetle, Nixon underscored the fact that all vari- the Hines emerald , and the eties of wildlife are equally deserving of Delhi Sands flower-loving fly share one protection, declaring: “Nothing is more thing in common: their conservation priceless and more worthy of preserva- status has improved thanks to being tion than the array of animal life with listed under the U.S. Endangered Spe- which our country has been blessed. It cies Act. The ESA, passed by Congress is a many-faceted treasure, of value to in 1973 and signed by President Nixon scholars, scientists, and nature lovers in December of that year, has been de- alike, and it forms a vital part of the heri- scribed as the broadest and most power- tage we all share as Americans.” ful wildlife protection act in U.S. histo- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ry. Before the ESA, federal laws aimed at immediately set about implementing preserving species applied only to verte- the new mandate, and in 1974, its Office brates. Its passage extended coverage to of Endangered Species employed Paul all plants and invertebrate animals, the Opler as its first staff specialist in en- first time that insects received specific tomology. Dr. Opler’s arrival provided federal protection in the United States. official recognition to and responsibil-

In 1976 the Schaus swallowtail (Heraclides [Papilio] aristodemus pon- ceanus) was one of the first insects protected under the Endangered Species Act. Photograph by Bill Bouton.

24 WINGS ity for the conservation of rare insects, might be affected by their actions or by which resulted in quick action. By the actions funded or authorized by them. next year, forty-one species and subspe- The Act also allows participation by the cies of insects were proposed for listing, public in the determination of which and in 1976 the Bahama swallowtail species should be listed. Indeed, since (Heraclides [Papilio] andraemon bonho- 1980 most species that have been pro- tei) and the Schaus swallowtail (H. [P.] tected have been listed as a result of peti- aristodemus ponceanus) were officially tions brought forward by scientists, con- designated as threatened. Listing of six servation groups, and other citizens. California butterflies soon followed. The comprehensive protection pro- The central purpose of the ESA is vided by the ESA has not been univer- “to provide a means whereby the eco- sally supported. The Act has been both systems upon which endangered spe- lauded and reviled, and its merits have cies and threatened species depend may been vigorously debated. The inclusion be conserved.” The power of the ESA to of insects and other invertebrates has achieve this goal lies in its capacity to in- been a particular source of contention. fluence the actions of both public agen- Invertebrate protection was weakened cies and private parties, and it provides a by a 1978 amendment that restricted the number of ways for doing so. First, once listing of distinct population segments a species has been listed as “threatened” to vertebrate animals. Not only did this or “endangered,” the ESA can provide lead to the loss of protection for the first funds for habitat acquisition by federal insect that had been listed, the Bahama agencies and for conservation efforts swallowtail—although its Florida popu- by individual states. In addition, the lation is at risk, it is just one of several ESA requires critical habitat to be desig- populations across the swallowtail’s Ca- nated and recovery plans to be written ribbean range—but it continues to affect for most listed species. The Act makes which insects are eligible for listing. it illegal to take individuals of a listed The monarch butterfly (Danaus species in the United States and its ter- plexippus), for instance, is renowned for ritorial waters. To “take” is defined as its long-distance migration to and from to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, overwintering sites in Mexico. Most of wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or the monarchs west of the Rocky Moun- attempt to engage in any such conduct.” tains, however, make a shorter journey (Limited taking of a species may occur, to overwinter at various sites in coastal but only with a federal permit, and only California. Even though this geographi- for research purposes or as an uninten- cally distinct population has seen a more tional or “incidental” result of other than 90 percent decline since the 1990s, lawful activities.) it cannot receive protection because of The ESA helps define who is respon- the 1978 amendment; in contrast, the sible for implementing its powers, and killer whale (Orcinus orca) is not pro- requires the cooperation of all federal tected as a species, but individual pods agencies in the conservation of any list- (family groups) are. ed species whose habitats are found on The ESA was further amended in land under their jurisdiction, or which 1983. Under the Act as it was originally

SPRING 2012 25 Despite an abrupt drop in their numbers, monarch butterflies Danaus( plexippus) over- wintering in California are denied protection by the 1978 amendment to the Endan- gered Species Act. Photograph by Carly Voight. written, any destruction of habitat was amendment was passed, the proposed considered a “taking” and was prohib- developments on San Bruno Mountain ited. The 1983 amendment allows de- were delayed only until a Habitat Con- velopment on habitat regardless of how servation Plan for the mission blue (and critical that habitat might be by permit- several other listed species) could be ting the taking of listed taxa if certain completed. Under the terms of the HCP, conditions are met, including the prepa- some land was preserved, while other ration of a conservation plan for the re- areas—including parcels that contained maining population. habitat of the butterflies —were built This amendment is widely con- upon. The San Bruno Mountain HCP be- sidered to be a political compromise came a national model for allowing land between developers and the federal development even in the presence of en- government, reached in order to allow dangered species, but it remains contro- houses to be built on San Bruno Moun- versial, along with the overall concept tain. In the early 1980s, San Bruno of Habitat Conservation Plans. Mountain was the largest undeveloped Politics have not just led to amend- parcel of private land on the San Francis- ments to the ESA; they have also changed co Peninsula. It was also the site of criti- the way it is applied. “Unfortunately,” cal habitat of the mission blue butterfly as Xerces president May Berenbaum (Icaricia icarioides missionensis). After the wryly notes, “listings have been more

26 WINGS influenced by political climate change at a low level (with seven species listed than by ecological climate change.” For in four years), as it did during the Clin- example, in 1975, as governor of Cali- ton administration (seventeen listed fornia, Ronald Reagan expressed doubt in eight years). Then, during the presi- that insects need protection, saying, dency of George W. Bush, not only did “In spite of our all out-war against cer- listings come to a virtual halt, but the tain undesirable insects over countless USFWS often failed to follow the law, nor years we’ve failed to eliminate a single did it accept the recommendations of species.” This animosity continued into its own scientists. For example, a multi- his presidency; in his second year in the agency team of scientists proposed the White House, the ESA was revised to protection of more than thirty-six thou- exclude any insects that present a risk sand acres of critical habitat in Nebraska to agriculture. This provision, though, for the recovery of the Salt Creek tiger has never been used, and it is highly un- beetle. At the prompting of the USFWS, likely that any species on the brink of this estimate was revised downward to extinction would qualify as a pest. fifteen thousand acres, and eventually This negative attitude was also re- the USFWS proposed to protect fewer flected in the fact that listings of insects than two thousand acres —an amount under the ESA ceased during the early described by one member of the original years of the Reagan administration. team as scientifically “ludicrous.” Stanford University biologists then suc- Despite the equality of protection cessfully sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife offered by the ESA, invertebrates are Service (USFWS), forcing it to list the bay significantly underrepresented among checkerspot butterfly Euphy( dryas editha listed species. A little more than 10 per- bayensis); even so, only six insects were cent of the endangered or threatened listed over the eight years of the Reagan animal species listed by the USFWS are administration. Under President George insects—sixty of 582 species—yet they H. W. Bush, listing of insects continued make up more than 72 percent of global

Tiger are often found near rivers or beaches, sites much sought after by developers. The endangered Ohlone tiger beetle (Cicindela ohlone) is no exception. Photograph by Joyce Gross.

SPRING 2012 27 animal diversity. If we look at it another serve biodiversity, offering a safety net way, approximately 18 percent of Unit- for those species at the greatest risk of ed States’ vertebrate species are listed as extinction. Thanks to the Act, some in- threatened or endangered; even if we sect species are showing signs of recov- assume merely that invertebrates face ery, while others might now be extinct destructive forces no greater than those were it not for its continuing role. faced by vertebrates and at similar levels The ESA remains the only national of intensity, we would expect to find on law in the United States that specifically the order of sixteen thousand at-risk in- protects imperiled insects and their hab- vertebrates species in the United States, itats, and—particularly if it is adequate- rather than sixty. ly funded—it can be an integral part of Although the ESA’s potential for the effort to protect the country’s im- protecting insects is significant, its re- mense biological richness. The Act has cord of accomplishment on their be- drawn attention to the crisis of extinc- half is relatively modest. This may be tion that confronts not only birds and due more to societal factors that favor mammals, but also the myriad animal vertebrates, and to the way that the law species that, although less conspicuous has been implemented, than it is to the or less aesthetically pleasing, are no less law itself. A chronic shortage of fund- important. It remains the best insurance ing, limited knowledge of and scientific program that invertebrates have. attention to many insect groups, and a lack of concerted action by conservation organizations may all be factors that Scott Hoffman Black, the executive direc- have resulted in lower success relative tor of the Xerces Society, has been involved to vertebrates. Still, the ESA is a valuable in the protection of endangered species for and necessary tool in our efforts to con- two decades.

Once found in thirty-five U. S. states and three Canadian prov- inces, the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) is now known in only six states. Photograph by Doug Backlund.

28 WINGS XERCES NEWS

Xerces Shares in National Butterfly Conservation Award We’re proud to report that the Xerces So- Although the Xerces Society was not ciety shared the Wings Across America formally a member of the work group, 2012 Butterfly Conservation Award from we collaborated closely with it on sur- the U.S. Forest Service. The award was veys and research. In recognition of this given to the Interagency Mardon Skip- contribution, Xerces’ executive director per Work Group, which includes federal Scott Hoffman Black was named as a re- and state agency staff from Washington, cipient, the only non-agency person to Oregon, and California. share in the honor.

Protection for the Arapahoe Snowfly Two years ago, the Xerces Society peti- cluded listing. Although this does not tioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service mean legal protection for the snowfly, to have the Arapahoe snowfly (Capnia under this ruling all federal agencies arapahoe) protected under the Endan- must treat it as endangered. gered Species Act. The only known The petition was submitted by the populations of the Arapahoe snowfly Xerces Society together with several col- are in two small tributaries of the Cache laborators, including Dr. Boris Kondrati- la Poudre River in the Front Range of eff, an professor at Colorado Northern Colorado; both are on U.S. State University, who has done much of Forest Service land. the field survey work for this species. The USFWS recently announced For more information on the Arap- that protection is warranted, but the ahoe snowfly, please go to www.xerces. backlog of higher-priority actions pre- org/arapahoe-snowfly.

A New Report on Neonicotinoids and Bees A possible link between neonicotinoid nectar, sometimes at concentrations pesticides and honey bee die-offs has led lethal to bees. Neonicotinoids are also to controversy across the United States long-lived—lingering for as much as six and Europe. Xerces Society scientists years in woody plants—and they persist undertook a comprehensive review of for months or years in the soil, where research and published papers, the re- they can be absorbed by untreated sult of which was publication in March plants the following year. 2012 of Are Neonicotinoids Killing Bees? Products approved for homeowner Neonicotinoids are systemic and are use in gardens and on lawns and orna- absorbed into plant tissue. This means mental trees have manufacturer-rec- that they can be present in pollen and ommended application rates up to 120

SPRING 2012 29 times the rates approved for agricultural all conditional registrations until we crops. Homeowner products have no understand how to manage risks, and mention of the risks to bees. require clear labels so that consumers Are Neonicotinoids Killing Bees? know that these products kill bees and ­recommends that regulators reassess other pollinators. the bee safety of all neonicotinoid pes- Download the report at www. ticide products, reexamine or suspend xerces.org/neonicotinoids-and-bees/.

Xerces Launches Bring Back the Pollinators Campaign Have you signed the Pollinator Protec- all of these efforts, but we’re excited to tion Pledge? The pledge is a key part of launch Bring Back the Pollinators, which Bring Back the Pollinators, a newly estab- provides an expanded opportunity for lished Xerces conservation campaign. our members (and nonmembers) to be The campaign is based upon four cen- directly involved in pollinator conser- tral principles: grow pollinator-friendly vation wherever you live or work. flowers, provide nest sites, avoid pesti- cides, and spread the word. With these core practices, pollinator conservation can be adapted to any location, whether an urban community garden or a farm, a suburban yard or a city park. The new campaign has spread quickly thanks to promotion by the Rapid Refill toner car- tridge company, and hundreds of peo- ple in North America and Europe have signed the pledge in the past month. To sign the pledge, please visit www. xerces.org/bringbackthepollinators/. You can also purchase our new pollina- tor habitat sign to identify any habitat you have created or protected. The Society is already known for its highly rated pollinator conserva- tion short courses, the excellence of its technical advice to agencies, and such widely acclaimed books as Attracting Xerces’ new sign can be purchased to des- Native Pollinators. We will continue with ignate your garden as pollinator habitat.

Staff at Xerces Grows Apace The growth of Xerces over the past year as though we were rattling around in has been phenomenal. When our Port- the new space. We’re now beginning to land office moved in August2011 , it felt fill up!

30 WINGS Michele Blackburn joined the Adamson filling a joint position with aquatic program, working on a variety the USDA-NRCS in North Carolina. of projects including the Migratory As our conservation staff has grown, Dragonfly Partnership. The endangered so have our administrative needs. Mary species program gained Rich Hatfield to Ann Lau is our new accounting assis- work on bumble bees and Alexa Carlton tant, and Erin Green joined us in the last to focus on butterflies. The pollinator few weeks to help with membership and program also expanded, with Nancy Lee development.

Winners of the 2012 Joan Mosenthal DeWind Awards The Xerces Society is pleased to an- ulations. This data will be used to model nounce the two winners of the 2012 how butterflies will respond to climate Joan Mosenthal DeWind Awards, given change over the next hundred years. annually to university students who are Jana Slancarova of the University of engaged in research that will further the South Bohemia in the Czech Republic conservation of butterflies and moths. will study the effects of abandonment Each award is worth $3,750. of formerly grazed lands in Bulgaria, Rachael Ryan of New Mexico State Macedonia, and Greece. Her research University will be gathering genetic will provide a picture of how land aban- data from separate populations of the donment affects in the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot South Balkans, and will help to inform (Euphydryas anicia cloudcrofti) to better conservation decisions in that region. understand how environmental change Congratulations to both Rachael influences the stability of these two pop- and Jana!

WINGS, Spring 2012 Volume 35, Number 1 Wings is published twice a year by the Xerces Society, an international, non- profit ro ganization dedicated to protecting the diversity of life through the ­conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. A Xerces Society membership costs $30 per year (tax-deductible) and includes a subscription to Wings. Copyright © 2012 by the Xerces Society. All rights reserved. Xerces Society Executive Director: Scott Hoffman Black; Editors: Scott Hoffman Black, John Laursen, and Matthew Shepherd; Design and Production: John Laursen. Printed on recycled paper. For information about membership and our conservation programs for native pollinators, endangered species, and aquatic invertebrates, contact us: THE XERCES SOCIETY FOR INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION 628 Northeast Broadway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232 toll-free 855-232-6639 fax 503-233-6794 [email protected] www.xerces.org

SPRING 2012 31 The giant earthworm (Driloleirus americanus) may grow to be more than two feet long. It continues to survive in areas of undisturbed prairie near the border between Washington and , but surveying for the earthworm is very difficult, making it hard to implement conservation action on its behalf. Photograph by Lee Matthews.

THE XERCES SOCIETY FOR INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION 628 Northeast Broadway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232

Board of Directors Counselors Paul A. Opler May R. Berenbaum Paul R. Ehrlich Dennis Paulson President Wendell Gilgert Robert Michael Pyle Linda Craig Boris Kondratieff Michael Samways Treasurer Claire Kremen Cheryl Schultz Sacha Spector John Losey Robbin Thorpe Secretary Thomas Lovejoy Scientific Advisor David Frazee Johnson Jerrold Meinwald E. O. Wilson Scott E. Miller Michael G. Morris Marla Spivak Piotr Naskrecki

A $30 per year Xerces Society membership includes a subscription to Wings.

Our cover photograph is of a Carson wandering ( eunus obscu- rus). The skipper was listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 2002 thanks to a petition submitted by the Xerces Society. Photograph by Mace Vaughan.