Hi everyone! I was bored at work (as usual) and so I was reading the news. I saw this article about the effect the CA wildfires have had on a hairstreak butterfly. Well, primarily on its host plant. I thought you guys might find it interesting. I know a lot of us who raise butterflies feel good about "upping the odds" for their survival. But I just wanted to add its also crucial that they have host plants. So even if you let nature do its thing, by planting butterfly host plants (which are also native plants most of the time) you're also helping nature to continue its cycle. So thanks!
California wildfires could snuff out rare species by Kerry Sheridan
Sat Oct 27, 9:33 PM ET
Some rare types of trees, butterflies and other wildlife could lose their struggle for survival after this month's southern California fires, which ravaged one of the most unique, biodiverse areas in the world, scientists say.
Spewing alarming levels of toxins into the atmosphere, the blazes -- reportedly sparked by arson and a downed power line -- ripped across the landscape just four years after another massive wildfire swept through.
"These areas have a tendency to burn too frequently because urban development introduces more and more frequent types of ignition," said Scott Morrison, a scientist with the Nature Conservancy in San Diego.
"So you end up with more than the species can support. They don't have time to mature and reproduce."
Morrison was part of a team of scientists that studied the impact of the 2003 Cedar fires, which burned twice as many homes but was overall about half the size of the more recent fires that scorched 502,000 acres (203,000 hectares).
Among the species they found at risk were the Thorne's hairstreak butterfly, which lives only in the Otay mountains near the US-Mexico border and survives on its host plant, the Tecate cypress, a type of tree that is found mainly in those ridges.
The Tecate cypress were nearly wiped out in the 2003 fires, prompting concerns over the survival of both the tree species and the butterfly whose larvae typically eats only mature trees, between 20 and 25 years old.
"We fear that a lot of those burned again," said Morrison. "Here you've got a very rare species that has a restricted range," and needs a longer time cycle to reestablish itself than the fires have permitted.
Brush fires, while necessary for regrowth and seeding of certain flora, can eliminate habitat for birds and increase sedimentation in watersheds, increasing the prevalence of weedgrasses and possibly choking out species.
One type of shrub, Tamarisk, "invades a lot of the salt marsh and that is really important for endangered birds," said Morrison. "That Tamarisk invasion seems to be facilitated by an increase in sedimentation of the estuary."
Morrison said the southern California situation is important for further study because it has the same Mediterranean-type ecosystem as only about five other places on the planet -- including parts of Chile, South Africa, Australia and Europe.
These areas make up only about 2.2 percent of the Earth's land surface but are home to 20 percent of the Earth's plant species, he said.
Seven days after the fires began, health officials raised concerns over the lingering smoke in the air and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that were sent into the atmosphere -- the equivalent to 440,000 cars over the course of one year, according to the state environmental protection agency.
But they acknowledged that the full effect may not be known for years to come.
"It is clear that we have got environmental issues coming from this fire," said Bill Rukeyser of the California State Water Board. "Debris, ash, toxic materials are not good for the environment, but I don't have measurements."
Rukeyser said another spike in pollution is expected once the rainy season arrives, draining off the toxins left by the fires and sending a surge of pollution into the ocean and rivers.
Authorities were working to coordinate a plan to efficiently remove toxic waste left behind by burned out homes before the rains come, but another state health official said the levels of expected pollution had not been studied.
"We did not issue any analysis of the chemical hazards from the last major southern California firestorms in 2003," said Sam Delson, a spokesman for the Environmental Health Hazard Assessment section of the state EPA, adding it was not up to his department to decide whether any such tests would be done this time.
But for Geoffrey Smith of the advocacy group Wilderness4all, the problems posed by wildfires can only be eliminated if natural habitat is adequately protected and kept apart from civilization.
"Woe is us if we feel like we can subdue the environment and dominate it and destroy it by creating concrete jungles," said Smith, who is pressing for federal legislation to designate 2.5 million acres (one million hectares) in the state of California "federal wilderness" where building and construction would be prohibited.
"We rely as human beings on the very plants and animals that surround us. We have to remember that human beings occupy a place in the natural order of things and we need to take that into consideration when we design our living spaces."
California Fires Effect Rare Butterfly
I wonder if it affects the hummers, too? I think they get a wide variety of hummers there. So sad about the rare butterflies losing their host trees.