b-fly releases at events

[Cris Guppy & Aud Fischer]

EXAMPLE:
There is one Painted Lady record in British Columbia that appears to
indicate that the butterfly successfully overwintered as an adult. The
capture date is too early for a migrant, but is consistent with other
species that hibernate as adults. Or is it a "school butterfly?" The answer
to this would tell us something about the biology of the species.

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Cherubini <paulcher at CONCENTRIC.NET>
To: bugman at bugs.org <bugman at bugs.org>
Cc: leps-l at lists.yale.edu <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Date: September 22, 1999 10:50 PM
Subject: Re: b-fly releases at events


>Mark Berman wrote:
>
>> Some schools only release a
>> few [Painted Ladies], but I have been in schools that released >20 in one
season.
>
>Ok, now were getting some numbers with which to build up a risk model.
>How many elementary schools are there in Fairbanks, Alaska? Or all of
>Alaska? How many Painted Ladies are we talking about if each of these
>schools released 20 Painted Ladies each season?
>
>Say there are 20 elementary schools in Fairbanks and each releases 20
>Painted Ladies over a 3 month period. That's a total of 400 Painted
>Ladies released over 3 months in the greater Fairbanks area (an area
>involving several square miles) or an average of about 4 butterflies a
>day.
>
>What is the realistic probability that one of the few Lepidopterists in
>Fairbanks area is ever going to spot one of these short lived
>butterflies and cause a false sighting to be entered into the
>biogeograhical sight record database? A good chance of one false
>sighting every year? Every 10 years? Every 1000-plus years?  Can someone
>work through the dispersal math and statistical probabilities involved
>here?
>
>> There are plenty of examples of introductions of non-native species
>> resulting in major ecological challenges. I'm sure many of you are quite
>> familiar with most. The impact of these events extends far beyond the
>> relative value of monitoring programs, sometimes resulting in public
health
>> hazards or serious challenges to populations of valuable native
organisms.
>
>The United States Department of Agriculture grants permits for the
>commercial release of only  NINE, wide ranging, abundant, NATIVE species
>(e.g. Monarchs, Painted Ladies, Mourning Cloaks, etc).
>
>Paul Cherubini, Placerville, California
>
>