Chasing butterflies for science

Posted 8/11/20

With an arm-full of nets and the joy of young, energetic volunteers, citizen scientists headed up Chief Joseph Highway hunting for elusive butterflies.

Every year for the past 11 the group has …

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Chasing butterflies for science

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With an arm-full of nets and the joy of young, energetic volunteers, citizen scientists headed up Chief Joseph Highway hunting for elusive butterflies.

Every year for the past 11 the group has taken to the same spot the first weekend in August as part of the North American Butterfly Association’s (NABA) annual count. Chasing butterflies in the Beartooth Mountains may seem like frivolity, yet studying the different species and documenting population change is an important way to gauge the effects of a changing climate, said Bobbie Holder, horticulturist with the University of Wyoming Extension Park County.

“If we don’t know what’s here, we don’t know how to protect it,” Holder said. “And we don’t protect things that we don’t know and love.”

It’s a down year for the ornate insects. The weather has been hot and dry — a bad combination for butterflies, Holder said.

“When it’s really droughted and hot in June, plants [butterflies rely on] bloom early and die off. So those butterflies are no longer in sync, right? There’s nothing for the larva,” said Holder.

Butterflies have a very narrow range of plants they and their larvae use to exist. For example, “monarchs survive only on milkweed,” she said.

Comparisons of the results can be used to monitor changes in butterfly populations and study the effects of climate and habitat change.

On Aug. 1, the group counted 450 individuals and 34 species. Compared to 2019, when the group documented 513 individuals and 35 species, the dry conditions were apparent. It may not seem like a big difference, but the number of volunteers is increasing at the same time, adding more manpower to the equation as well.

Park County’s official Butterfly Count is organized by Holder, of Cody, and Powell resident Marynell Oechsner in cooperation with the NABA. The organization has been running counts and collecting data in the U.S., Canada and Mexico since 1993.

There are about 450 groups counting the popular insects, which consist of a compilation of all butterflies observed at sites within a 15-mile diameter count circle in a one-day period. The data collected provides important information about the geographical distribution and relative population sizes of species counted. Oechsner, a retired U.S. Forest Service biologist, stresses the importance of continuing Park County’s annual count.

“The purpose is not only to find out what kinds of butterflies and the number that are here, but over time, you’ll be able to see if there’s changes,” Oechsner said.

Those changes are important to scientist as they study plant phenology and changes in the climate — especially as insect populations, including important pollenators, are decreasing at alarming rates.

“We’ve lost about 70% of our insects since the ’50s,” said Holder. “And we can’t survive without pollinators.”

The annual count is also a great way to introduce outdoors studies to children, opening the door with a fun activity is a win/win for the environment, Oechsner said.

“They’re out there having fun in the great outdoors. And they’re learning,” she said. “There’s few better ways to turn them on to the beautifulness we have here in Wyoming.”

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