Cold wet weather and butterflies

[Michael Gochfeld]

Ron's observations of a body count on muddy roads after cold wet weather 
I presume reflects road kills of sluggish individuals. In researching 
factors influencing butterfly morbidity and mortality some years ago, I 
found a dearth of information on direct effects of weather. 

Ironically, when I tried to publish some detailed data on butterfly 
counts before and after cold spells in Florida, the editor dismissed 
such observations as "anecdotal". 

We have also had experiences in NJ where a certain species goes 
unrecorded all morning and then appears in numbers fairly suddenly (and 
obviously freshly) on a sunny afternoon, suggesting that some 
previous factor (maybe a single weather condition), synchronized 
something (perhaps egg-laying, perhaps pupation, perhaps development, 
maybe eclosion). 

I presume we could learn a lot from the experimentalists among us who 
raise various species. 

Mike Gochfeld

 
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