Poor butterflies/nasty business

Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca
Wed Sep 27 11:02:05 EDT 2000


I agree wholeheartedly with Neil Jones' observation on declining butterfly
abundance in many areas: "The cause is modern industrialised agriculture
which is wrecking the habitats."  The prairie region of Canada is among the
most modified ecosystems in the world because of our need to eat and the way
that we have chosen to produce food.  I am often dismayed with the
relatively insignificant 'culprits' that are accused of doing nasty things
to the environment.  I do not mind being accused of heresy and pointing out
that agriculture has had by far the largest and most enduring negative
impact on biodiversity, including butterflies.  Despite the fear that can be
engendered by judicious use of numbers and the reality that only a small
percentage of the natural Canadian prairie ecosystems/habitats survive
intact; still we need to recognize that the absolute area of the land base
which still supports the original butterflies is substantial and most of the
taxa are in no danger of becoming endangered in the near future.  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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


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