[Pollinator] Pollinator Week Highlights Butterflies` Role in Georgia

[ladadams at aol.com]

>From Coosa Valley News


Pollinator Week Highlights Butterflies` Role
Tony Potts

06-23-2009


Pollinator Week, June 22-28, couldn’t come at a more appropriate time 
in Georgia. The first of 12 butterfly counts in the state start this 
week. The purpose of Pollinator Week, recognized by Gov. Sonny Perdue 
with a proclamation, is to teach pollinator-friendly practices and 
raise awareness of the importance of the birds, bees, bats, beetles, 
butterflies, moths and flies needed to produce 80 percent of flowering 
plants and a third of food crops.
There is evidence some pollinator species in North America are 
declining, according to the National Academy of Sciences. As Georgia’s 
butterflies flutter through the state, biologists with the Wildlife 
Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources want 
to remind residents that butterflies are key pollinators for many 
flowering plants and crops.

DNR biologists and volunteers working with the North American Butterfly 
Association are coordinating counts to provide a better idea of the 
status of butterfly populations in Georgia.

“Compared to Georgia’s vertebrate wildlife, relatively little is known 
about our insects, even highly visible and beautiful species like 
butterflies,” said wildlife biologist Tim Keyes of Wildlife Resources’ 
Nongame Conservation Section. “As public interest grows in these 
charismatic and important insects, the knowle
dge can help contribute to 
baseline knowledge of species distribution, abundance and eventually 
their response to habitat, weather and climate changes.”

Keyes will lead a July 6 count at Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge 
near Macon. Other events are scheduled from Rabun to Dougherty County 
(details at www.naba.org/counts.html).

Retired entomologist Jerry Payne organizes the count at Piedmont 
National Wildlife Refuge and Rum Creek Wildlife Management Area north 
of Macon - set for Friday, June 26 - and takes part in five others.

Butterflies are sensitive indicators of the environment’s health 
because of their dependence on specific plants where they lay eggs and 
feed, and even certain habitats, Payne explained. Counting them also 
has its rewards. “They’re colorful as fireworks and a lot less 
dangerous,” he said.

The data volunteers collect is compiled into a report that researchers 
use to study geographical distribution and population sizes. 
Comparisons of years of data - 2009 marks the 35th year of counts - 
yield some of the best information for determining the health of 
butterfly species.

Georgia is home to about 165 of those species. While monarchs are the 
best known of the butterfly migrants, many other species, including 
cloudless sulphur, gulf fritillary, painted and American ladies, and 
Georgia’s state butterfly, the eastern tiger swallowtail, are also 
migratory, although the exact 
nature of their migratory flights is not 
well understood.

For a list of Georgia’s butterflies and more information on how you can 
participate in the counts or other Pollinator Week activities, visit 
these Web sites: DNR Wildlife Resource (www.georgiawildlife.com), the 
North American Butterfly Association (www.naba.org/counts.html) and 
Pollinator Partnership (www.pollinator.org/pollinator_week_2009.htm). 
Weather can change count dates.