romunov’s blog et al

I am currently working on a project, where we search for a butterfly and a plant withing a given range on Ljubljansko Barje near Ljubljana. My task is to check every meadow, hedge and ditch and locate butterfly Maculinea telejus (also M. teleius, in Slovene "strašničin mravljiščar" and Scarce Large Blue for English) and the feeding plant Sanguisorba officinalis (strašnica). I mark everything down on a map (like the ones here) with color markers and fill out a form. All this will be analyzed at a later date and consolidated in an opinion on "health" of population of this perticular buttefly in this particular region. Why?

Why this butterfly? As everything everywhere, things work as fast (good) as its weakest/slowest link. Biologists try to pick the species that are the most representative of the process’ that define this weakest link. If we consider this butterfly an indicator species (summing up all the factors that effect it), its status in a habitat will give us a more realistic picture of what is going on. If for example the populations start to decline (and not just part of the between years fluctuations), this can be an early warning for conservation biologists to point out that something is wrong and needs to be mended.

I love what I do, and not just for the butterflies, but also the impact my work may have on future planning. While there is no single entity to oversee our natural resources (like healthy meadows, forests, swamps…), there still may be hope for an ecosystem style approach of managing our surroundings. Hopefully, people will realise soon enough that ecosystem style approach is the way to go. And to me, saying that sends shivers down my spine. We try to manage our surroundings and try to exclude ourselves from the circle of life, while we shoul try to fit in (meaning, we should adopt,adapt and improve). As in human society, standing out in nature is of no benefit but to the creature that eats you.

Attached is a picture I took yesterday. It’s a lovely freshly emerged female laying eggs (notice the curved abdomen) on Sanguisorba. Feeding plants are plants that serve as food for butterfly larve (catterpillars). This genus (Maculinea) of butterflies is especially interesting, because it depends on certain species of ants as well (another reason why their populations are so sensitive to change of habitat, hence their role as indicator species). Once  the larva has reached a certain age and size (it eats the seeds), it descends to the ground and starts emmitting vibrations. Ants pick it up as "stray larva" and carry it to the ant hill. The  butterfly disguizes itself with a pheromone to prevent ants from finding out he is an intruder. Meanwhile, ants feed it or it eats ant larvae. This is how it overwinters. They eventually pupate (enclose themselves in a cacoon) and spring out in early June (time also dependant on weather, altitude and latitude) to start the new circle of life (think Lion king music).