Wednesday, June 10: Where Have All the Butterflies Gone?
Orange Sulphur, Colias eurytheme Photo courtesy of Dr. Shapiro
Free lecture with Dr. Art Shapiro
Co-hosted by the Los Olivos Library and LOCO
Wednesday, June 10, 2020 at 7:00 PM
Los Olivos Community Organization (LOCO) Hall
2374 Alamo Pintado Avenue, Los Olivos
Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae. Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey
There is a perception that butterflies are in trouble. Is it valid? Dr. Art Shapiro will offer some answers to that question based on his life-long interest and research into North American butterfly populations.
Dr. Shapiro has been monitoring entire butterfly faunas along a transect paralleling Interstate Highway 80 across north-central California since 1972. This is the longest-running butterfly-monitoring study in the Western Hemisphere and one of the two longest-running in the world. Shapiro’s study embraces 10 sites from sea level to treeline and it covers over 160 species. The data he has gathered over 47 years constitute an important source of information on butterflies responses to climate, land-use change, and pesticides. Dr. Shapiro will present an overview of the project, its methods, and what has been learned so far.
Butterfly researcher Dr. Art Shapiro of UC Davis. Photo by Scott Shepard
In a recent article published in the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Shapiro was asked, “Why butterflies?” His answer: “Why not?” He has been “into” butterflies since about age 11. He holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and from Cornell University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in Entomology. He has been on the faculty of the University of California, Davis since 1971 where he is currently Distinguished Professor of Evolution and Ecology. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the California Academy of Sciences, the Royal Entomological Society, and the Explorers Club. Shapiro has authored more than 300 scientific publications.
