the way it was in suburban habitats

[Chris J. Durden]

Moth numbers here in urban Central Texas have also been way down for years. 
The last good moth year was 1978, about the time that "bug-zappers" 
appeared in the stores and on every block.
    The scenario that I see is: Moth numbers are drained by "bug-zappers". 
Caterpillar-eating birds feed on proportionally more butterfly larvae. 
Butterfly numbers fall too. This is exactly what we saw here.
    Then came chemical lawn treatment in the early eighties. Then came fire 
ants in 1986 with a profound crash from which we may now be only half 
recovered.
.................Chris Durden

At 02:14 PM 1/21/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>Paul,
>
>Do you have any documentation for your claim that there has been no downward
>trend in butterfly numbers in the Bay Area? My experience (undocumented) in
>Davis is that Moth numbers are way down over the last twenty years. It is
>regrettable that population size estimates have been so spotty.
>
>Patrick
>patfoley at csus.edu
>
>Patrick Foley



 
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