Controlled Burns Threaten Rare FL Butterflies
Posted July 07, 2015 06:20 am | Public News Service
TALLAHASSEE,
FL - Controlled burns could wipe out rare north Florida
butterflies if they're not done with insect habitat in
mind, according to a recent
University of Florida study.
The research found certain butterflies need fire because they feed on plants that only survive when flames weed out competing vegetation.
Lead study author Matt Thom with the U.S. Department of Agriculture says if fires get too big, all of the butterflies' cocoons, which are buried near the soil surface, will burn up.
"It's this kind of strange trade-off," says Thom. "Fire can be a positive thing for the host plants, but it also can be bad, detrimental to the populations of the organisms."
The study looked at the frosted elfin butterfly, which
lives in
Ralph E. Simmons State Forest near the Georgia
border. It found that the caterpillars in the cocoon
stage don't burrow far enough into the soil to survive
the flames.
Thom says it's all in how much land is burned at one
time.
"You need to burn these certain forests at certain
intervals," he says. "You know, too frequent a fire, or
a fire that actually burns though the whole, entire area
that the butterflies occupy, would be a pretty bad
thing."
Thom recommends controlled burns only be done on a
rotation basis and in smaller, subdivided areas, so
butterflies in the unburned area can repopulate the
forest and maintain their natural balance between life
and death.
Photos/graphics; links; added and updated by the Observer | Photo: Bill Bouton
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