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Post by jshuey on Aug 20, 2021 7:20:49 GMT -8
A look at one of our projects - about 28 years in the making...
John
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Post by exoticimports on Aug 20, 2021 8:33:04 GMT -8
Great video John and excellent narration! Thanks for sharing.
Chuck
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Post by kevinkk on Aug 20, 2021 16:23:07 GMT -8
Yes, now I know how to pronounce the species as well.
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Post by mothman55 on Aug 20, 2021 19:36:56 GMT -8
Great video, regal is one of my favourites. Maybe diana next??
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Post by exoticimports on Aug 24, 2021 2:46:47 GMT -8
I watched again. John from what you said I took it that idalia was reintroduced and is now self sustaining? Do you reintroduce to a small site after a burn?
Chuck
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Post by jshuey on Aug 24, 2021 5:25:21 GMT -8
I watched again. John from what you said I took it that idalia was reintroduced and is now self sustaining? Do you reintroduce to a small site after a burn? Chuck No re-introductions. The restoration was designed to restore connectivity between several natural prairie/savanna remnants, a couple of which had very tenuous regal populations. The idea behind the restoration, was that plants and animals that were "trapped" on the islands of nature preserves (in a sea of corn and beans) would expand into the restoration. So we purchased about 8,000 acres of agricultural land, that once restored, would create a contiguous protected landscape of over 20,000 acres. So the work I mentioned in the video is us looking at how regals respond to fire and grazing in a contiguous habitat. In this case, all they have to do to slide across our fire break from adjacent habitats to recolonize recently managed habitat. We wrote about regals at the restoration here - www.researchgate.net/publication/308003703_Landscape-scale_response_to_local_habitat_restoration_in_the_regal_fritillary_butterfly_Speyeria_idalia_Lepidoptera_Nymphalidae. There are a few things worth noting. Personally, I figured that regals would go extinct in Indiana before the restoration started working like it was supposed to. But nope, they pretty much exploded as soon as we started working and are currently in the process of re-occupying many sites in NW Indiana and adjacent Illinois where they had been last seen over a two decades ago. The bug is using a weedy annual viola as the hostplant on the restoration - Viola bicolor, while it uses a more traditional prairie violet on the real prairies we restored around. And, it made a jump of over 20 miles to colonize another site we restored about 20 years ago. Most recently, we documented this summer that it has indeed established itself at the site site mentioned as a "potential dispersal event" in 2014 (see the paper), five miles south of that far eastern site. We saw three regals, including 2 females, at a site owned by Indiana DNR. The bug can get around! The last 600 acres at the site will be planted this winter! John |
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Post by exoticimports on Aug 24, 2021 6:57:20 GMT -8
Thanks John, that's the "meat" I was looking for! That's an unbelievable success. Congratulations!
Chuck
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Post by tv on Aug 25, 2021 14:16:05 GMT -8
Yeah this is really cool, thanks for sharing.
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Post by jshuey on Aug 27, 2021 10:20:19 GMT -8
I thought that I would add an unusual image taken the same day as the interview. A mating pair - with the female trying to get away from me. I caught her in the initial upstroke, and you can see the flex in the forewings - caused by the drag create by the muscle she put into the effort. john  |
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