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Tuesday, July 5, 2005

Where have the BUTTERFLIES GONE

Experts cite loss of habitat

By VIRGINIA SMITH | News-Journal Environment Writer

For five years, butterfly watchers, amateur and professional, have reported steep declines in the population of all butterflies, including the dozen or so species that migrate through Volusia and Flagler counties. (Many more are native to the area and do not migrate.)

Counts of monarch butterflies, which migrate north from Mexico in the spring, have been especially low — at about 75 percent of historic averages. Which is bad news not just for butterflies, but for the birds that eat them.

There are several factors keeping butterfly populations down, said Thomas Emmel, head of the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity in Gainesville. The center, which opened last spring, is building a database — and a network of butterfly watchers — to track population shifts.

One threat involves genetically modified crops. A type of corn grown throughout the Midwest contains a gene poisonous to moths and butterflies, which spreads via pollen to the monarchs’ food plants. A genetically modified soybean plant, sometimes grown in Florida, contains a gene that resists herbicide — allowing farmers to spray tons of it without risk. This kills the plants that butterflies and caterpillars feed on.

Meanwhile habitat loss to development is an increasing and serious problem for Florida butterflies. But this can be partly countered, said Emmel, with butterfly gardening.

“They’ll come for miles to your back yard if you plant the right plants,” he said, adding that the center plans a large public campaign this fall to encourage butterfly gardening and conservation.

Lately in Volusia and Flagler counties, butterfly gardening has caught on — particularly in schools. Stetson University boasts a well-tended garden, as do elementary schools such as Discovery in DeLand.

At the University of Florida’s agricultural extension office in DeLand, master gardener Katie Diehl can teach anyone how to plant for butterflies — and says the monarchs, swallowtails and sulfurs have been showing up in her garden. “I think there’s a growing interest in it,” she said.

HCIC Special Report: Butterflies Are More than Beautiful: Can We Keep Them Alive?

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