Butterflies and habitat corridors

[Laurel Godley]

What about butterflies that like a wooded (and moist) habitat?  I see more 
butterflies along stream beds... mostly wooded than I ever do in open 
fields.  I realise the article suggests that the butterflies studied (not 
all butterflies) perfer an open habitat but I would hate for anyone to take 
this article the wrong way and begin cutting down trees just to "create" 
corridors.

Laurel
from the sludge lagoons of San Jose, CA


>From: Danfosha at aol.com
>Reply-To: Danfosha at aol.com
>To: LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu
>Subject: Butterflies and habitat corridors
>Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 12:27:34 EDT
>
><http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun99/1999L-06-10-09.html>
>
>BUTTERFLIES BENEFIT FROM WILDLIFE CORRIDORS
>
>Wildlife corridors linking distant areas can benefit species that rely on
>patches of fragmented habitat, two new studies show. The studies may help
>scientists and land managers design more effective corridors. Research at 
>the
>Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina found that
>butterflies are more likely to move between habitat patches that are close
>together or linked by corridors than between widely scattered patches. The
>butterflies studied need open habitat and vegetation, and were unlikely to
>travel across wooded areas to reach distant open spaces. More open habitat
>butterflies were present in patches linked by corridors than in similar but
>isolated patches. "Corridors are often designed with the thought that they
>benefit all species living in a given habitat," says researcher Nick 
>Haddad.
>"Because habitat restricted species are most often threatened by
>fragmentation, corridors should be effective tools in conservation." The
>studies are in the current issue of the journal "Ecological Applications,"
>published by the Ecological Society of America.
>
>


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