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McShea, who is overseeing the Clarice County project put it, “We don’t put radio collars on them.”
Until science catches up with the invention of nano trackers or some other whizbang technology, Clarke County and NABA will have to do their counts the old-fashioned way—counting by sight. The Clarke County protocol calls for individual volunteers to do the count on their own properties seven times, for one hour each time, over an eightweek period, from July 9 through August 31. Each survey plot is 500 square meters (5,382 square feet).
Why bother counting butterflies? Butterfly species have distinct food and habitat needs and will disappear if those needs are not met, so they are good indicators of the health of a variety of ecosystems. By monitoring populations over many years, scientists can see if they’ve grown, shrunk or shifted. From that, they can determine what species need protection as well as learn more about the health of the whole ecosystem—what eats what, what lives where, the effects habitat and climate (and climate change) have on native species and much more.
lb learn more about the health of Rappahannock County’s ecosystems, the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection has decided to tag onto Clarke County’s butterfly count. With the hope of eventually expanding Clarke’s butterfly count from the piedmont to the Chesapeake Bay,
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