Redwood Reader

70. Cold Spring Rough for Butterflies, Gypsy Moths
I kind of felt like Jay Leno when I saw these two articles today. Coming from Long Island I read about the gypsy moths because I have been aware of the problem. I am also following climate change and landscape responses so it was interesting to see a problem issue improved by climate. I thought the fact that the caterpillars were blown and washed out of the trees was more important than the temperature. So it seemed weird the next article, in the same paper but as far away from the story site as I am, and only eleven minutes apart, concerned more butterfly population declines in the neighboring state, where prairie grasses rather than forest predominate. Both groups feel it was just a miserable spring and the objects of their attention will return in force.
An interesting thought concerning glomalin production in forests suffering defoliation comes to mind. The rhizosphere must be shrinking with less available photosynthetic products. This could lead to wholesale decline in forested regions affected by gypsy moths, and weakening that often precedes other infections and diseases.
Spreading information is the scientific method at work as discovery is added to discovery and we change our original view of the subject with better understanding and clearer ideas. Sometimes it seems like too many people are focused too narrowly and bigger picture implications are overlooked. Sometimes it is more profitable to not know stuff and opposition is raised to discredit it. Good science prevails in the long run as the next discovery often ends the argument as the knowledge spreads. We are also reminded again that foreign invaders that run amok often eventually find they are not as well adapted as originally feared.
Excerpts and links:

Groups: Ill. Butterfly Population FallingBy Associated Press
August 17, 2004, 8:39 AM EDT
http://www.newsday.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-missing-butterflies,0,239657.story?coll=sns-ap-science-headlines
Many experts said a hot and dry early spring, followed by a couple of rainy months and a cold summer probably have contributed to the problem….
Peterson said he has seen about 35 different species of butterflies this summer -- the same as last year -- but he has noticed a large decline in the total number of insects.
"Some just seem to be not as abundant," Peterson said Monday.
Cool Weather Killed Gypsy Moths in Wis.
By Associated Press
August 17, 2004, 8:50 AM EDT
http://www.newsday.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-gypsy-moths,0,1733242,print.story?coll=sns-ap-science-headlines Wisconsin's annual battle against a leaf-eating insect got some help from this spring's nasty weather, which resulted in a huge decline in tree defoliation, The cool, wet spring was "downright deadly" for the gypsy moth, killing tens of millions of the caterpillars before they went on a munching binge in late June and July. Recent aerial surveys over much of eastern Wisconsin where the infestation is the worst spotted only 20 acres of moderate defoliation …In 2003, the surveys determined 65,000 acres of wooded areas were defoliated by gypsy moth caterpillars, …
Nasty May weather, with its driving winds and rain, repeatedly knocked newly hatched caterpillars from trees and shrubs to the ground, where they died, …
Severe outbreaks of the insect run in cycles, usually happening once every 10 years and lasting for one to three years because of favorable weather, Diss said.
… the cooler, wet conditions last spring also created just about perfect conditions for the diseases that killed caterpillars. The good fortune likely means thousands of fewer acres will need to be sprayed for the insects next year, saving considerable money, Cleereman said.
"It breaks the cycle," he said. "The population builds to a peak and crashes. But this is a temporary respite. They are here and they are here forever."
No defoliation occurred in southeast Wisconsin again this year even though there were threatening populations of the insect going into spring, in part because local officials sprayed in critical areas, Diss said.
The moths, which are native to Europe, Asia and North Africa and favor a diet of oak leaves, were accidentally introduced to the United States in 1869. They spread to the Midwest after destroying large areas of forest in the Northeast.