automobile traffic and leps!

[John Shuey]

I want to put Andy's comment in perspective with collecting.  Ohio is
probably typical of Midwestern states in collecting intensity - in fact it
is probably on the high end.  Ohio is also unique in that we have a real
handle on almost all butterfly collections that contain Ohio material
(thanks to a near obsessive thing for "dots" that Dave Iftner developed when
he lived there).  When we published the "Butterflies and Skippers of Ohio"
we had an estimated 90% of the records for the state in hand - and that
totaled close to 25,000 records collected mostly since the 1950's -
(probably about 25 - 50% more actual specimens were involved in this - a
record could be composed of multiple specimens collected at the same site ,
date and collector).

Put this in context of an estimated half million monarchs killed in one week
on Illinois highways.

But, in the spirit of "nothing is black and white",  I doubt if too many
Karners are killed by cars each year, and can only think of a couple of
sites where this is even a possibility for Mitchell's satyr.  I doubt if
cars contribute significantly to the decline  of many highly localized
species.

But, again in the spirit of dwelling in the gray.  Cars have been documented
at a couple of sites as the primary "non-natural" source of mortality for
the federally listed Hine's emerald dragonfly.  But two things contribute to
this - major highways cut right through habitats, and then the stupid little
critters see the highway pavement as some sort of "asphalt river" and the
forage up and down the interstate like they would open water.  Foraging
dragonflies and cars don't mix.

John

John A. Shuey
Director of Conservation Science
Indiana Office of The Nature Conservancy
1505 N Delaware Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202
317.951.8818


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu]On
> Behalf Of Andrew Warren
> Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2002 1:02 AM
> To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Cc: tx-butterfly at listserv.uh.edu; sowestlep at yahoogroups.com;
> albertabugs at majordomo.srv.ualberta.ca
> Subject: automobile traffic and leps!
>
>
>
> I just got the 15 Feb. issue of the Journal of the Lepidopterists'
> Society.  A remarkable study was published by Duane D. Mckenna, Katherine
> M. Mckenna, Stephen B. Malcom, and May R. Berenbaum, entitled "Mortality
> of Lepidoptera along roadways in central Illinois."  I encourage all of
> you to read this!  I will quote a few numbers they present (p. 66-67):
>
> "According to our estimates, the number of Lepidoptera killed along
> interstates in Illinois during this week could have been more than
> 500,000, the number killed along highways could have been more than
> 5,000,000, and the number of Lepidoptera killed along other roads could
> have been more then 15,000,000.  In total, the number of Lepidoptera
> killed by automobiles was estamated at more than 20,000,000 individuals in
> this seven-day period.
> Using similar methods, we estimated the potential number of monarch
> butterflies killed during week.  According to our estimates, in Illinois
> in one week during this study may have been more than 500,000."
>
> I am sure this will be a very frequently cited study for years to come!
>
> Best,
>
> Andy Warren
>
>
>
>
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