Poor butterflies ---

[Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX]

Another example of how perceptions are shaped by what we see and do not see.
A local example, Nymphalis vau-album (Compton Tortoiseshell) had a massive
population explosion in my area last year and residents remarked on the
hordes of butterflies.  Altho the overwintering adults were reasonably
common this spring as well, I have yet to see a single freshly emerged
individual this year.  Does this mean that the butterfly is suddenly extinct
or that it is now rare ? Of course not -- it is just another example of
natural population fluctuation.  However for those areas that have been
paved and cultivated for food production; we can reasonably conclude that
butterflies are much less abundant than under natural conditions - except
those that live on the agricultural plants of course.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Norbert Kondla  P.Biol., RPBio.
Forest Ecosystem Specialist, Ministry of Environment
845 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 1H3
Phone 250-365-8610
Mailto:Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca       
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca