CNDDB News Blog

Did you know? March 14th is National Learn About Butterflies Day!
Thankfully, we have one of the world’s leading experts in Learning About Butterflies right here in California: Dr. Art Shapiro, at UC Davis.

For nearly 50 years, Dr. Shapiro has conducted bi-weekly monitoring at 11 sites along an elevational transect across Central California. --We’ll let that sink in for a minute.-- As of the end of 2006, Dr. Shapiro had logged 5476 site-visits and tallied approximately 83,000 individual records of 159 butterfly species and subspecies. And he hasn’t stopped counting. Even better, he and his team have made this extraordinary dataset accessible on Art Shapiro’s Butterfly Site.

In addition to data access, Art Shapiro’s Butterfly Site hosts a wealth of educational resources and activities, with something to offer folks of all ages and levels of expertise. In honor of National Learn About Butterflies Day, check it out TODAY!

Dr. Shapiro graciously answered some questions to help us all on our Butterfly Learning journey:

1. What are some of the most important things you’ve learned from your long-term study?
   Butterfly populations and faunas are constantly changing. At least some of the changes can be correlated statistically to short-term weather and long-term climate trends, land use and vegetation change, and pesticides. The importance of these factors varies according to location and species. Overall, butterfly faunas in low-elevation California are declining due (we think) primarily to land use and pesticides, while declines in the mountains are probably climate-driven. The only rigorous way to assess these phenomena is through long-term monitoring!
    
2. Are there additional unanswered questions you have that you hope this research will help resolve?
   Many. We would like to understand the actual mechanisms underlying population change. For example, is climate change acting directly on butterfly physiology, through the host plants, or both? For the Monarch, which is sort of a "poster child" for butterfly conservation, are changes in its overwintering and breeding patterns being driven by climatic warming, host availability, or...?
    
3. For the aspiring lepidopterists out there, what do you consider the most crucial or urgent needs for research going forward?
   We need reliable, consistently gathered data on what occurs where and in what numbers!
    
4. What resources should the average, concerned citizen consult to learn what they need to know about butterflies?
   Lots of resources are available on-line. You can visit comprehensive websites (like mine) or search individual species names or regional faunas. On-line searching done intelligently opens the door to limitless resources. Good field guides (like mine for the SF Bay Area and Sacramento Valley, but quite a few others too) and popular or semi-popular books about butterflies can be extremely valuable. Remember there is much more to butterfly biology than just identification!
    
5. How can we all contribute to butterfly research?
   Contribute to eButterfly and other on-line resources. Get in touch with your local chapter of the North American Butterfly Association and butterfly-oriented people at regional universities and museums to learn what is happening in your area and how you can get involved.

For a more comprehensive interview, read Deborah Netburn’s Nov 2019 piece in the LA Times.

Go to Art Shapiro’s Butterfly Site today. Bookmark it! And as always, please report your sightings of rare species on CNDDB’s Online Field Survey Form. The butterflies thank you!

With the approach of spring, the grasslands and oak savannahs of Northern California have turned vibrant again. It is time for a rare treasure to reemerge.

Fritillaria pluriflora, the abobe lily, is endemic to the east and west edges of the Central Valley and the surrounding foothills from Tehama County through Solano County. This species has a California Rare Plant Rank of 1B.2, meaning it is rare, threatened, or endangered in California and elsewhere, and moderately threatened in California.

Adobe lily grows in clay soils which are often influenced by serpentine. Its bulbs lie dormant several centimeters below the surface for most of the year, seeking protection from summer droughts, grazers, and the occasional wildfires which rush through its habitats.

Between February and April F. pluriflora come into bloom with a display of pink and purple flowers 2 to 3.5 cm in length. Some populations also include a white-flowered form.

Try exploring a quiet country lane this month. If you come across a cluster of these gems nodding in the breeze, don’t speak. Just breathe. Take it in. Imagine the shaggy mastodons who once ambled across fields of this same species of lily, in a land which would later be named California.

When you regain your composure, pull out your phone and collect some coordinates for the CNDDB. Fritillaria pluriflora should not go the way of the mastodon.

Bombus crotchii – Crotch bumble bee

Submitted by Nancy Hamlett, Friends of the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park

Nancy was able to get a close-up shot of this Crotch bumble bee in the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park in Los Angeles County. Crotch bumble bees are an imperiled invertebrate species and their populations are said to be declining like many other pollinators. During the summer of 2019, the California Fish and Game Commission petitioned to list the Crotch bumble bee as an endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act making it a candidate endangered species. Studies have shown that over the last decade, the species has suffered steep population declines due to agricultural intensification and urbanization of its native range. Crotch bumble bees are native to the lower two-thirds of California but are thought to be extinct in their natural northern range. Nesting occurs underground for this species, so conservation actions include restoring high-quality habitat to include abundant nesting and overwintering resources. This is unfortunately only one of the many pollinators in peril, but the CNDDB is proud to aid in the fight to protect this species and the lands it uses to survive. Thank you, Nancy, for this great observation!

Plagiobothrys strictus – Calistoga popcornflower

Submitted by Aimee Wyrick-Brownworth

This delicate plant was found by Aimee Wyrick-Brownworth in Napa County. It is listed as a 1B.1 (rare or endangered in California and elsewhere, seriously endangered in California) in the California Rare Plant Ranking system. Plagiobothrys strictus can be found found in alkaline areas near thermal springs in meadows and seeps, valley and foothill grasslands, and vernal pools. It blooms from March to June, so keep an eye out for these little white flowers in the next few weeks. Thank you Aimee for all the amazing work you send our way and all the great work you do!

Do you have some great photos of rare plants or wildlife detections? Submit them along with your findings through our Online Field Survey Form and see if your photos get showcased!