Article
By: Jim Witkin
Published- February 7, 2012
Summary
Edgewood Park in San Francisco, California is starting conservation projects to save the Bay checkerspot butterfly. Dr. Stuart Weiss, conservation biologist and leader of this study, is hoping to help bring back the butterfly that was once native to this area. Nitrogen emissions from the nearby interstate have really affected this butterfly. Nitrogen has gotten into the soil and has made some plants grow faster while it has affected the growing rate of other native plants. The native plants that the butterflies eat aren’t growing fast enough and are dying. The butterflies are dying also and the loss of its biodiversity in California is becoming a big problem. Efforts to help bring the butterfly back include planting more native plants that the butterfly eats and collecting butterfly larvae before the harsher winter months. Hopefully the effort to save the checkerspot butterfly is successful.
Opinion/Reflection
Reading this article I was shocked to see how nitrogen was a cause to the threatened butterfly. Since the nitrogen was stopping the growth of some plants, the butterflies have had a harder time finding food. I think the work that Dr. Weiss is doing will really help the butterflies become a more diverse species. Hopefully Dr. Weiss’ work will help save the biodiversity of the butterfly, because if he waited too long more biodiversity could have been lost. I think his efforts will help the butterfly because he is going to plant more food. Unfortunately the interstate will still be a main cause to the nitrogen problem that is affecting the bay checkerspot butterfly.
Questions
1. Why is Dr. Weiss concerned about saving the butterfly?
2. What are some other ways that could help save the butterflies?
3. In the article, it said the biodiversity loss in California is becoming a bigger problem than global warming. Do you agree with this?
4. What other problems could be harming the butterflies?
5. Will the efforts to save the butterfly be successful? Why or why not?
Picture
Dr. Stuart Weiss is looking for butterflies in the park where they are native. Notice the interstate in the background that is release about 15 pounds of nitrogen into the air every year.
Opinion/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteMy intital thought of this article, was a connection to our larvae-caterpillars that we are doing in science class right now. In class, we learned about the Nitrogen cycle, but i had no idea how much it could really effect an organism, let alone an entire ecosystem! Mr. Weiss is doing an amazing job in trying to improve the bay checkerspot butterfly. However, the nitrogen that is given off from car exhaust (along the Interstate), absoloutely does not help this process of saving the butterfly's biodiversity. It was fascinating that this article did not only focus on the endangered bay checkerspot butterflies, but the Thornmint (which is an endangered annual flower). I hope to see that the Bay Checkerspot butterfly does not go extinct, and Dr. Stuart Weiss continues his good deed of saving species.
Expansion:
I found this awesome website that actually describes the Bay Checkerspot butterfly, and lists some pretty interesting facts about the little critters. The article says that this type of butterfly has a wing span that is just a little more than two inches. Also, that this butterfly is from the brush-footed butterfly family. Read more to expand your knowledge on this amazing butterfly here:
http://www.butterflyrecovery.org/species_profiles/bay_checkerspot/
I also found this beautiful picture of the Bay Checkerspot Butterfly here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kqedquest/447852484/in/set-72157600050458581
Along with an image of the Thornmint plant, at this link:
calphotos.berkeley.edu
Answer to Question:
#3: The questioned asked my opinion on whether bioiversity being lost in California is a biger issue than global warming. Well, to be honest, if I lived in California, then it would be a whole different story. But i don't, therefore, the biodiversity loss doesn't effect my life, or the lives around me as much. However, global warming effects the entire world, not just one state. So, basically, no i do not agree with what the article stated.
More Questions:
1: How does the Nitrogen system tie into this article?
2: What is Mr. Weiss doing to help the butterflies' biodiversity?
3: How many butterflies did Mr. Weiss and his team collect last winter?
Opinion/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article I was really shocked! It really makes me think about how many other creatures are dying from things like this.It made me think that we should be so grateful for people like Dr. Stuart Weiss, because he is the type of person we should look up to for doing such an amazing thing for such a small species. This article really connected to my personal life since in science class we are doing an experiment with larvae-caterpillars, which will soon be butterflies. Also, the fact that the interstate is so close by worries me, I hope that it will not remain as much as a problem and that the Bay Checkerspot butterflies fully populate that area again and do not go extinct.
Expansion:
While I did more research on this topic I found a really incredible website that also talked about saving the Bay Checkerspot butterfly, but in a way that is a tad bit different from Dr. Stuart Weiss' plan. Since most butterflies are very vulnerable to pesticides, this center is finding a way to reduce the poisoning of the host plants and the larvae to help save the species.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/invertebrates/Bay_checkerspot_butterfly/index.html
In addition, I found an awesome picture of this Bay Checkerspot caterpillar, since reading the article above, it made me wonder what the actual butterfly and caterpillar looked like.
http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1421&bih=692&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=oGe6kEdGlQvJuM:&imgrefurl=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ff%3D/c/a/2007/02/16/MNGGHO5QJS1.DTL%26ao%3Dall&docid=97mPXuW8iLwU5M&imgurl=http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/02/16/ba_checkerspot16mjm.jpg&w=580&h=445&ei=79FKT4jtEsfu0gG7_9ypDg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=533&sig=117039546488223193030&page=2&tbnh=152&tbnw=192&start=19&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:19&tx=92&ty=49
Answer to Question:
#5: To answer this question weather or not the efforts to save the butterfly will be successful, honestly, I do not think there is any correct answer to this considering it depends on how well of research is done, and how scientifically constructed the plan is to save them. Disregarding that though, I believe that the efforts to save the butterfly will be successful, because Dr. Stuart Weiss seems like a very smart guy that will do much more good for the butterflies. I think planting more native plants will be very good for the butterflies, at least for some time until they will have to plant more. I do however think something should be done about the interstate and the nitrogen coming from it, because that is definitely a role play in this whole problem.
Other questions:
1. What made Dr. Stuart Weiss realize this problem?
2. Will Dr. Weiss and his team work year-round on this project?
3. Why does the nitrogen tend to kill the native plants?
When I read this article, my initial reaction was disgust at the amount of car exhaust that is being put into the California air. Whether the butterflies are dying or not, that is so disturbing and efforts should be made on improving that. I also first read it, and did not see the importance of this little, hard to find butterfly. However, when I continued, I could not help but be rooting for the conservation of the butterflies! When we learned about the nitrogen cycle in class, I really did not realize it could put a species at risk. It also made me feel guilty, because we are the ones causing this issue. I am pleased with Dr. Weiss and his effort, because I personally never would have taken such immense action for such a simple organism. Also, I thought this article was so relevant to what we are learning, so I enjoyed connecting it back to class!
ReplyDeleteExpansion:
I was curious about the pollution rates here, and so I found an article that shows more about it. It really makes you realize what we are doing to the planet.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/san-francisco-bay-pollution_n_1283373.html
Also, I found a picture of this butterfly in it's caterpillar stage, because I was curious about them in comparison to the ones we observe in class.
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1708&bih=830&tbm=isch&tbnid=oGe6kEdGlQvJuM:&imgrefurl=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ff%3D/c/a/2007/02/16/MNGGHO5QJS1.DTL%26ao%3Dall&docid=97mPXuW8iLwU5M&imgurl=http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/02/16/ba_checkerspot16mjm.jpg&w=580&h=445&ei=lAJMT-uLDOPv0gHjub21Dg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1002&vpy=227&dur=265&hovh=146&hovw=204&tx=124&ty=144&sig=114305726626868227366&page=3&tbnh=146&tbnw=204&start=69&ndsp=38&ved=1t:429,r:28,s:69
Answer to Casey's question #1-I think he is concerned about saving them because every organism plays an important role in an ecosystem. They are also beautiful and appealing...who hates butterflies?!
Wow 15 pounds of nitrogen that's a lot I hope he will save that butterfly and make it happy and wonderful. I like this article because it kind of relates with our butterflies. I love alot of animals and like I said in the last article. It hurts me when I have to hear that an animal is in danger. I hope that he has people to help him. I think that it is great that he is trying to find the butterfly larvae so he can grow them. I think that he should get many butterfly with diffrent genes and breed them together. That way they will have genetic diversity and not go through a bottle cap. I hope that they may florish and that we can fix the nitrogen problems. I also hope that people will realize that natural resources cause so many problems such as global warming, nitrogen problems and much more.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.butterflyrecovery.org/species_profiles/bay_checkerspot/
On this website it describes the butterflies and what are there habits. It also very little though tells how they are going to conserve the butterfly. It also tells what types of plants they eat. I think if people study the butterfly then we can find a way to save the buterfly.
Question 3
I think that biodiversity loss is worst than global warming. I mean like what is worth saving the planet if there is only type of gene left and that gene was made to survive global warming only. I also think that if you save everyone on the planet from global warming and all the animals are dead the what was the point.