|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2005
CONTACT: Daniel P. Finney, (515) 271-2833 or Daniel.Finney@drake.edu
BULLDOGS CHASE BUTTERFLIES FOR BETTERMENT OF ENVIRONMENT
A Drake University-led research project is studying whether restored Iowa prairie
habitat will reinvigorate the population of rare butterflies and other insects.
David Courard-Hauri and Keith Summerville, assistant professors of environmental
science, are leading a team of student researchers who are catching and marking
butterflies at the Kuehn Conservation Area near Van Meter in Dallas County.
The tracking will allow the team to learn more about butterfly movement patterns
and whether they take to newly restored or managed habitats such as those found
at Kuehn.
“I don’t want my grandchildren to ask me what a butterfly was and
what it looked like,” said Ashley Wick, a Drake senior environmental science
major. “I want them to know for themselves.”
Demand for quality farmland led to about 98 percent of the natural prairie habitat in Iowa to be plowed under, Courard-Hauri said.
The researchers spend Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays at Kuehn capturing butterflies with nets, in particular the small, brown spotted Little Wood Satyr. Using special wax paper envelopes, tweezers and black permanent markers, the team marks the butterflies and then hopes to recapture them later in different areas to track their movements.
The team makes small dots on the wings using the pen – which does not
harm the insect, but allows them to recognize the butterfly when they find it
again. The research will help environmental scientists learn if restored habitats
can draw insects and other creatures back to their native areas.
“This research will allow us to know if native insects and animals need
to be reintroduced in these areas or if they can make it there themselves,”
Courard-Hauri said. “There is little known about the grassland butterflies
in this area, so this type of work is important for conservation.”
Drake University, the Iowa Academy of Science and the National Geographic
Society fund the research.
- 30 -