SHAPIRO 2002
The Californian urban butterfly fauna is dependent on alien plants
Using the unusually well-documented butterfly fauna of Davis, Yolo County, California, it is shown that the mainly native species commonly observed in gardens breed mostly or entirely on alien plants, especially naturalized weeds. Over 40% of the fauna has no known native hosts in the urban–suburban environment. Were certain alien weeds to be eradicated or their abundance greatly reduced, the urban-suburban butterfly fauna would disappear. This might be regarded as an unfortunate, and perhaps intolerable, side-effect of such programs.
Link: http://planet.uwc.ac.za/nisl/Invasives/Assignment1/Shapiro.pdf
Difficulty B
Dr Richard Knight Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za
Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za
Using the unusually well-documented butterfly fauna of Davis, Yolo County, California, it is shown that the mainly native species commonly observed in gardens breed mostly or entirely on alien plants, especially naturalized weeds. Over 40% of the fauna has no known native hosts in the urban–suburban environment. Were certain alien weeds to be eradicated or their abundance greatly reduced, the urban-suburban butterfly fauna would disappear. This might be regarded as an unfortunate, and perhaps intolerable, side-effect of such programs.
Link: http://planet.uwc.ac.za/nisl/Invasives/Assignment1/Shapiro.pdf
Difficulty B
Dr Richard Knight Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za
Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za
posted by Rich Knight at
6/04/2006 10:50:00 PM
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