Tomatoes, Carrots, and Some Butterflies, Please.

There is something very rewarding about shopping a farmer’s market. When I return home with a basket of tomatoes and a bunch of carrots, I know that I have helped a farmer in a small way. It is empowering to think that my purchase can have an effect on other people.   The same is true of butterfly farms. Yes, there are farmers out there that raise butterflies and I was fortunate to have the chance to visit a butterfly garden right in the bustling city of San Jose, Costa Rica.

Spirogyra is an enchanting tropical garden that protects the last of the city’s forested land and provides a home for many incredible butterflies.  Even more inspiring, Spirogyra works with 15 other farms to raise butterfly pupae, offering families a competitve source of income and incentive to promote rainforest conservation. 

How does it all work?  Generally, there is a netted enclosure where butterflies reside and mate, laying eggs on plants.  These eggs are gathered by the farmers and placed in containers that are checked daily for hatching caterpillars.  Caterpillars are picky eaters and need a specific host plant.  They are provided host plant cuttings and placed into rearing bins.  As they eat and grow, farmers check continuously for the products that they will export- chrysalids.  These little jewels are carefully wrapped, packed, and then sent for destinations around the world such as yours truly.

Now, the incredible thing is that making a difference can be as easy as making a trip to the Butterfly Pavilion.  In each admission there is a gift to a farmer of a better life, a sense of worth, and insight of resource conservation.  So let’s not wait to enjoy the farmers’ harvests!

Written by Khanh Whiteman
Zookeeper, Butterfly Pavilion

Attracting the Good Guys

 From the title, you might think that Bug Bytes has suddenly become an advice column for the lovelorn.  Actually, since I began gardening here at the Butterfly Pavilion, I’ve learned to find emotional drama on a much smaller scale.  Why else would I curse when I see a cluster of aphids on a new milkweed leaf, or laugh at the uncanny appearance of a praying mantis?

 

Okay, okay.  I can accept that not everyone gets all gushy at the sight of a ladybug larvae (cootchie-cootchie coo!), but I will report that this small-scale soap opera is yielding many benefits for our habitat gardens here.  We don’t use any pesticides in our gardens at the Butterfly Pavilion; butterflies and other beneficial invertebrates (the “good guys” of the title) are very sensitive to chemical contaminants, and the risk of wiping them out is just too great.  In order to keep our gardens happy and healthy, we have to rely on other pest management (notice I didn’t say “pest elimination” or “pest Armageddon”) techniques. 

 

The first principle is to monitor the garden closely.  That’s right, watch your garden as if it was “The Sopranos” and “Wild Kingdom” combined.  Actually, those ladybug larvae are pretty bloodthirsty, if you’re an aphid.  By paying attention to your garden inhabitants, you can get a pretty good idea of how healthy your garden is and catch pest problems before they get out of hand.  Here at the Butterfly Pavilion, we keep a running tally of what insects visit our plants and in what numbers.  We also note what plants seem to suffer the most, and what plants attract pollinators such as bees, butterflies and beetles.

 

The second principle is to make your garden a home for beneficial insects.  Do you envision yourself building thumbtack-size condos for ladybugs?  Don’t worry, creating bug habitat is much simpler, and more satisfying.  Predators of garden pests need food and shelter just like any other creature.  Many beneficials need nectar as an energy source in their adult phase.  Most healthy perennial gardens, if grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, do a fine job of attracting ladybugs, parasitoid wasps, praying mantises, hoverflies and the like.  There are some plants, such as fennel, yarrow and rabbitbrush, which seem to bring the good guys in droves, however.

 

Of course, it is important to learn how to recognize a beneficial insect.  Often, when I’m releasing ladybugs in our habitat garden, visitors will ask me about these strange black alligator-looking bugs they’ve seen in their own backyards.  Are they pests?  Will they bite?  How relieved they are when I tell them they’ve just spotted a baby ladybug…and how relieved I am when they haven’t sprayed it yet!  There are some great insect field guides available, and of course, the Internet has information on insect identification.  A few minutes of research can mean a much happier garden for plants, people and wildlife.

 

Our habitat gardens at the Butterfly Pavilion are well-established and experience very few pest problems.  To be honest, the biggest pest problem comes from the vertebrates: rabbits, voles and litterbugs.  One of the goals of habitat gardening is to create a sustainable mini-ecosystem, and our “good guys” have made this possible.

 

Posted by Amy Yarger

Horticulture Director

Rainforest Conservation: A Theme for Posterity

By now, we have all heard about the plight of our ecological systems. “Save the Rainforest,” has become the battle cry for most 5^th grade students after their two-week unit study of the rainforest.  Rainforests are the most biologically rich terrestrial ecosystem on earth, providing habitat for up to 50% of earth’s creatures.   The tropical rainforest is, quite simply, the richest, oldest, most productive, most complex terrestrial ecosystem on earth.  However, these worldwide crucibles of biodiversity are being depleted at the rate of 214,000 acres per day: an area larger than New York City (Myers 1989).

 

Although habitat destruction is a serious concern even in our own backyards, studies have shown that most destruction tends to take place where people are the poorest and biodiversity is the richest (Wilson 1992).  In most emerging nations, natural resource intensive businesses become a primary source of income as poverty stricken citizens, landowners and governmental entities cash in. This allows the conversion of critical habitat into farm and ranch land, sites for industrialized logging, mining and other human development. For nearly five decades, with the help from citizenry and local governments, environmental groups have been trying to slow the degradation.

 

Recently, alternative protective strategies engaging all sectors have begun to take hold as realistic solutions for habitat protection. Sustainability, which is simply the ability to live without handicapping future generations, has become the focus of modern preservation efforts. Utilizing the roles of living systems which are essential to life as we know it as allies, non profits innovatively engage corporate investors to take part in sustainable business ventures like butterfly farming, organic multiple/alternative crop cultivation or even aqua culture.  Local citizens once forced to take part in the destruction out necessity of survival, are now being empowered at the local level to create partnerships for sustainable businesses enterprises.

 

A civil sector organization I recently spent time with, Corazon de la Terra, works in and around the state of Jalisco, Mexico to create ecological stability through ecosystem analysis and impact evaluation while creating methodology for sustainable management. However, by modeling community organizing efforts, they are able to connect with rural farmers and landowners to engage in strengthening their own communities by advancing present land use processes into more sustainable, long- term endeavors. For example: farmers teaching other farmer’s sustainability (Aguilar 2006).

 

At a recent Colorado Alliance for Environmental Educators fundraiser, Hunter Lovins famed conservationist, and author of Natural Capitalism stated confidently “ We have won!”  “The Business sector has become aware of their role in environmental conservation. We now have technological and intellectual resources to positively shape posterity. Innovative solutions can transform social and ecological capital globally, and reconnect citizenry with realistic, people-centered projects that influence market mechanisms.”

 

What can we do? We are doing it! The Butterfly Pavilion is one of these so called sustainable market mechanisms. Our continuing contribution of engaging visitors, educating children, and creating community awareness keeps the sustainable wheel of habitat protection rolling.  Who knows, perhaps one day the Butterfly Pavilion through the support of corporate partners may even fund butterfly-farming projects all over the world. The sky is the limit when it comes to rainforest conservation, and we have just begun to take flight! 

Posted by Patrick Tennyson
Director of Education, Butterfly Pavilion     

Think Twice about your Sunscreen

I recently went on a diving trip to Cozumel, Mexico.  The coral reefs are beautiful, and they are starting to recover from Hurricane Wilma.  Everywhere you look there are corals, sponges, crabs, fish, sea stars, and much, much more, and every diver is eager to do one thing – jump in!  The water is refreshing, but on the boat the sun beats down on you and quickly causes sunburn.  Naturally I slapped on the all-important sunscreen to prevent my skin from being fried.  When I returned from my trip I was unpleasantly surprised to learn that my sunscreen may have harmed the corals that were so amazing.

 

An article titled Beat the Sun, Kill the Reefs in the May 2008 issue of SCUBA Diving states that some chemicals in sunscreen activates dormant viruses that reside within coral polyps.  These viruses kill symbiotic algae that the corals need to survive.  Without these algae the corals bleach and turn white then eventually die.  An estimated 16,000 to 25,000 tons of sunscreen is used in tropical countries a year, which may release as much as 4,000 to 6,000 tons of sunscreen in reef areas around the world.

What can you do about this problem if you are heading for the coastline?  Check your labels!  The problem lies in sunscreens that employ chemical filters that absorb ultraviolet radiation. Avoid sunscreens that use derivatives of paraben, cinnamate, benzophenone and camphor.  Buy sunscreens that use physical filters instead that scatter and reflect UV radiation, which usually contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.  Happy diving!

Posted by Stephanie Hollister
Zookeeper, Butterfly Pavilion

Pollination Nation

Big Jobs for Some our World’s Smallest Creatures

Imagine your life without the ability to move.  Even plants, or at least plant parts, need a measure of mobility in order to reproduce successfully.  Indeed, life as we know it depends on the movement of pollen from one plant to another.  Without this process, most of our world’s plants would be unable to produce fertile seeds, stranding them in a reproductive dead end. While some plants can self-pollinate, most rely on wind or animals to spread their pollen to other individuals of the same species.   Insects are among the most common pollinators of flowering plants, and their partnerships with plants are vital to ecosystem health and our survival.

Pollinators and plants are partners in the true sense of the word, even if the partnership is sometimes fraught with complexity.  Animal pollinators tend to be faithful to certain plant types, as long as they are rewarded with food or some other resource.  For this reason, animal-pollinated flowers often use bright colors, strong fragrances and arresting shapes as advertisements to attract their pollen-carrying counterparts. Most people are familiar with those six-legged cupids, the honeybees, but gardens, fields and meadows host a wide variety of pollinators, including solitary bees, bumblebees, moths, butterflies, flies and beetles.

The importance of these often-overlooked animals to our global health becomes more apparent each year.  Some researchers estimate that a third of our food (including condiments, spices and beverages) requires animal pollination, and more than half of the world’s diet of fats and oils comes from animal pollinated crops.  In fact, animal pollinated products, from fibers to medicine to food, annually contribute 20 billion dollars to the United States economy!

Unfortunately, decades of habitat degradation and rampant pesticide use have taken their toll on the world’s pollinator populations. This could translate into negative effects on our dinner tables and in our wallets.  When declines in honeybee populations in Europe and the United States made news last year, many people surmised that Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) could act as a wake-up call for the plight of pollinators and their habitats.  While scientists have not yet identified a cause or a cure, many suspect newly identified pathogens may play a role in the bees’ plight. 

In the meantime, people everywhere can play a role in protecting our plants, pollinators and our world by improving our understanding of these important organisms and by making responsible choices to protect them.  

Learn more about plants, pollinators, and their impacts during

POLLINATION NATION

June 20-September 1, 2008

at the Butterfly Pavilion  

Posted by Amy Yarger
Director of Horticulture, Butterfly Pavilion

 

Blogging for Butterflies?

In committee meetings, staff meetings, board meetings and general buzz around our facility, conversation about the Butterfly Pavilion’s focus and direction continues to circle back to issues of environmental conservation.  How do we apply best practices in our exhibits and in our offices?  How do we continue to take steps, or better yet, leaps towards operating within our values of enviromental stewardship, conservation, sustainability and diversity - locally and globally?

Faced with limitless possiblities and finite resources, we have succeeded in bringing conservation into everyday dialogue at the Butterfly Pavilion.  2007 saw the creation of a Conservation Commmittee composed of staff and volunteers dedicated to exploring and implementing environmentally-friendly ways to run our day-to-day operations, as well as further integrating conservation messages into our exhibits.  Within only a few short months renewed investment is evidenced by clear results:  Recycling bins were purchased and placed at key points throughout the facility; office supplies are evaluated and purchased based upon a combination of cost and environmental impact; when visitors hold Rosie, they are also educated about the impacts of harvesting threatened tarantula species from the wild.   

 The Butterfly Pavilion’s blog is intended to push us forward in our mission of educating folks about the environment and conservation through those (mostly) little animals we call invertebrates.  Our goal is to explore current events within that very context.  Are bees really disappearing, and what are the global environmental and economic impacts?  Or perhaps more importantly, what’s to be done, what can we do?  The issues are endless, the questions are pressing, and science can be, well, fascinating. 

So, please join us as we open a dialogue about our changing world and the animals in it. We’re waiting to hear from you.

Kim DeLashmit, Marketing Director
Butterfly Pavilion