Deciding how often and when to use prescribed fire can be difficult, especially when managing for rare butterflies, University of Florida scientists say.

That realization stems from a UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences study in which researchers experimented with pupae — insects between larvae and adult stage — of butterflies that frequent Florida's fire-prone habitats.

Prescribed burns and wildfires can damage animals and plants in their paths. But they can also promote species and create habitat, maintaining the ecological balance of the forest and the region’s most frequent natural disturbance over the long term.

Immature butterflies may die immediately after controlled burns, but populations can recover over time.

Still, scientists are concerned that butterflies with small, isolated populations may be in severe peril if their habitats are burned too frequently and in large blocks at a time, which can mean that butterfly refugia — unburned areas that provide refuge — are limited. 

BURNING QUESTIONS

In the UF/IFAS study, scientists wanted to know how and why some butterflies survive wildfires and prescribed burns, particularly where the insect feeds and lays eggs on fire-adapted plants.

To date, most studies on the impact of fires on insects have been done in the Midwest, said Jaret Daniels, a UF/IFAS associate professor in entomology, who supervised the study as part of a dissertation by former UF doctoral student Matt Thom.

“We are increasingly faced with developing appropriate strategies to help conserve a growing list of rare organisms, including many insects,” Daniels said. “Understanding how prescribed fire and other land- management techniques impact these populations is critical to ensure their long-term survival.”

Thom also worked on the study with Leda Kobziar, a UF/IFAS associate professor in forest resources and conservation. The study appeared online May 27 in the journal Plos One.

“Although we have a fairly robust understanding of how fire affects plant communities, the relationships between fire and insects is a greater mystery,” Kobziar said.

“How is it that some organisms sensitive to fire also depend on specific plants that requirefire to persist in a given environment?

"This research helps provide answers to this question, while revealing how much more we need to know to conserve the full spectrum of species through science-based fire management.”

EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS

To find out how and why some butterfly species survive fires, UF/IFAS scientists tested pupae in two North Florida forests typically managed with prescribed burns.

Thom and his colleagues studied atala hairstreak and frosted elfin, two butterfly species that frequent fire-prone habitats.

Researchers collected data on burial depth of the frosted elfin at the Ralph E. Simmons Memorial State Forest in Nassau County. They conducted burn experiments with the atala hairstreak at the UF/IFAS Ordway Swisher Biological Station in Putnam County. They also put the pupae in laboratory baths at the UF Gainesville campus.

The atala hairstreak butterflies develop into pupae within or at the base of its host plant, while the frosted elfin sometimes goes down into the soil to pupate, Thom said.

In the experiment, scientists placed atala pupae at the soil surface and at different depths. The pupae died at the soil surface and in very shallow depths below ground, Thom said.

However, when buried at 1.1 inch or more below ground, butterflies survived 75 to 100 percent of the time, as the temperature and the amount of heat they were exposed to decreased, Thom said.

Scientists saw a similar pattern in their lab experiments. “Butterfly pupae that bury themselves deep enough in the soil can protect themselves from fire,” said Thom.

But there are caveats.

For example, if a non-adult atala lives in an area that’s burned, it will probably die, said Thom, now a post-doctoral scientist with the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The situation also isn’t very promising for the frosted elfin.

But there’s hope.

“The patchiness of fires increases where fires occur more frequently, because there’s less leaf litter.  “Less material burning translates to decreased heating of the soil,” Thom said.  “A more patchy fire probably means pupae on the ground have a better chance for survival, and there are more refugia for escaping adults.”

Brad Buck is an agent for the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: STAYIN' ALIVE: Florida researchers reveal why some butterflies survive in fire-prone areas

Anyone with a landscape can make a difference for pollinators.

Simply Having Areas Reserved for the Environment — see what I did there? — enables homeowners, land managers, farmers, individuals, corporations, schools, roadside managers, and golf courses to increase the number of area pollinators.

Making conscious choices about plants can provide essential habitat for bees,bats, birds, butterflies, moths, beetles and hummingbirds.

And what better time can you do this than during National Pollinator Week, June 15-21, 2015?

National Pollinator Week, initiated and managed by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, was unanimously approved and designated by the U.S. Senate in 2007.

Each year since, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has signed the proclamation in an effort to address the issue of declining pollinator populations.

Worldwide, there is evidence that shows pollinating animals have suffered from loss of habitat, pesticide misuse, competition from invasive species, disease and parasites.

Many pollinators are federally “listed species," meaning there is documentation confirming the disappearance or significant population reduction in natural areas.

The United States has lost over 50 percent of its managed honeybee colonies over the past 10 years. The European Union has been so concerned that they invested over $20 million investigating the status of pollinators in Europe.

Pollinator health affects everyone. Worldwide, roughly 1,000 plants grown for food, beverages, fibers, spices and medicines need to be pollinated by animals in order to produce the goods on which we depend.

Food and beverages produced with pollinators' help include: apples, blueberries, chocolate, coffee, melons, peaches, potatoes, pumpkins, vanilla, almonds and tequila.

In the U.S., pollination by honey bees, native bees and other insects annually produces $40 billion worth of products.

Native plants that can be identified and preserved or introduced include trees, shrubs, vines and perennials.

Some of them include: eastern redbud, highbush blueberry, passionflower, coreopsis, goldenrod, black-eyed Susan and butterfly milkweed.

Simply identifying and avoiding damaging many of the existing native plants will allow anyone to provide important homes and food for many different pollinating animals.

During National Pollinator Week, S.H.A.R.E. your space.

Sheila Dunning is a commercial horticulture agentat the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: DUNNING: Share your property with pollinators

CRESTVIEW — The Michael Allman Band  will perform in July at Split Oaks Saloon.

Performances — for patrons ages 21 and up — are 10 p.m. July 3 and 5 at 892 James Lee Blvd. W., Crestview. Cost is $10 per person.

The blues and rock band — led by Michael Allman, of Daytona Beach — performs songs such as "What's the World Coming to?"; "Mule Named Whiskey"; and "Livin' on the Open Road."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Michael Allman Band sets Crestview performance dates