The Butterfly Net: Lepidoptera Conservation Tool
The Butterfly Net will list the best native plant species to use, ranked based on their value as host and nectar plants for native Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) in this ecoregion and habitat type, as well as their ability to connect habitats across the landscape. By using these plants in your yard, garden, and other habitat projects, you will help protect butterflies, moths, and the important services they provide.
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@biohexx1 pretty cool tool! Is it pulling in data from sites like Calscape? -Chris.
@yerbasanta , informed me about it. Can you tell us more about it?
Calscape allows you to search for known and suspected host plants by butterfly or look at host butterflies and moths by host plant.
Example here is the Gray Hairstreak. Check marked plants below it are where there is confirmed evidence of it being a host plant. Asterisk means suspected host plant.
https://calscape.org/loc-California/lep/Strymon-melinus-(Gray-Hairstreak)?srchcr=sc636323d0b7785
I am not exactly sure at this time where the interaction data is being pulled from--I'll contact the creator to see if they're willing to share some methodology in the meantime.
I like the site because it really gives a good visual of what interactions there are between host and nectar plants, and lets you pick by local habitat type that's pretty site-specific, and easily displaying the priority species of plants depending on your goals for overall biodiversity.
When I posted in the Forums (https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/do-you-know-the-top-10-native-plants-to-promote-lepidopteran-diversity-in-your-part-of-ca/36474), someone linked another app from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) which is good also (https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder), but again, I found the Butterfly Net app to be particularly easy to use and to-the-point in comparison to other tools.
I do like that the Calscape does let you select by lepidopteran species if that's a particular focus of a native planting project though, this isn't currently a feature for the ButterflyNet app, though I think I and some others have suggested it.
There may be some surprises in there for you, for myself, I didn't realise that Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) was the top nectar and host plant in most ecoregions of the state!
They're open to feedback, which you can give through the app itself, or leave here and I can pass it along.
I'll check it out further but it looks like a good tool especially for people getting started with butterfly or pollinator gardening. -Chris.
Ok, I heard back from Chris Cosma (who created and runs the ButterflyWeb app), he says that most of the data came directly from a publication from a member publication from the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of CNPS (Jeffrey Caldwell: https://www.cnps-scv.org/images/handouts/CaliforniaPlantsforLepidoptera2014.pdf). Caldwell himself cites many online and print sources in the last few pages (pp 402-414) of the linked document.
Chris also cited himself in the 'Show/hide supporting information' button on the app, as well as references for plant locations, Lepidopteran locations, ecoregion shapefiles, and habitat shapefiles: (https://ctcosma.shinyapps.io/the_butterfly_net/).
If you're interested to hear more about the app, you could contact him directly (contact info on his website), or check out one of his presentations to CNPS on his thesis research and the app itself, it's really impressive what he's put together at this stage in his academic career. I timestamped to the relevant spot in the video: https://youtu.be/8ufZ_I6XuFY?t=1692
@biohexx1 do you think you could also add a journal post to the Moths of CA group as well? (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/moths-of-california-f88206db-4636-4e46-8ebb-0caba6e7ec09)
Done!
One of the interesting projects CNPS is working on is they are going county by county and by microclimate zones and defining California Native plants for each geographic area so the info can be used by restoration groups and even CalTrans and government to reference to use native plants in highway projects. California is also building a Federally mandated native seed bank too. Lots of good stuff going on lately. Hopefully it leads to more widespread use of native, pollinator friendly plants in addition to home gardeners. -Chris.
It will be interesting as a baseline for Climate Change and referencing future biomes to previous biomes. It's one of the reasons I love putting butterfly, bees, and beetles observations on iNat.
Yes on the symptoms of climate change. The influx of desert and subtropical species coming into new areas of CA is part of that. Been seeing a lot of first or rare sightings of butterflies that usually stay much further south or south east. Also some high elevation species from Southern California missing for a while as the average temps of their "sky islands" go up. I've been searching for any survivors of the high elevation Tehachapi Silverspot butterfly on some summits when I have time but I may be chasing ghosts. Found their rare Gray Violet suspected host plants though so that's a good start at least.
Yes, I still haven't seen the Hermes copper or Quino checkerspot here in San Diego County. Even the Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak is in the process of becoming only a memory.
Thanks @biohexx1!
@ezeemonee that's great news! I always hoped CNPS or the State would partner with CalTrans since they have so many important corridors and just so much land being managed overall. It's really a win-win for them, should reduce fire risk in a lot of places, maybe they could also apply for some carbon offsets or habitat payments as well.
State or Federally-run seed bank also sounds fantastic! It's true, many of the plants listed in the app aren't always readily available if you can't collect the seed yourself or have a really great native plant nursery in your area. I think there's a database somewhere that you can search for vendors by CA native plant, I'll see if they can add a link to the app for that as well.
@jspaulding
@emilyherriott
@biohexx1 yes I've checked around for the Hermes copper and at least found its host plant making a comeback in a few nature preserves in SD county but haven't spotted the butterfly yet. I did find a Mallow Scrub hairstreak near a jogging path on Camp Pendleton a few years back which was good.
@yerbasanta I'm looking forward to Caltrans one day throwing in the towel on Ice plant, Oleander, and Eucalyptus trees but not going to hold my breath. At least they have reached out and done some native plantings along highways but they need CNPS' expertise to get it right eventually. I heard they initially did some native plantings but planted native plants in the wrong microclimates and soils so some didn't do very well. CNPS has some full time people working on the native plant by area map but its a pretty huge task. Hope they finish soon. That's the key step before any kind of legislation or mandate for government groups like Caltrans to plant a certain percentage of native plants in their landscaping. The second piece would be scaling up government and private native plant nurseries to address the supply side.
I'm actually not that big into the idea of CalTrans planting natives near highways. Butterflies and fast-moving vehicles is not a good thing. But you're right, if other state and local governments planted natives, that would be a better idea. Our own campus opened a brand new building last month and planted non-natives, despite our community college having a horticulture department and biology department with actual ecologists.
Good point. A freeway may not be ideal for pollinators due to cars hitting them but possibly fine in other slower moving areas.
Some projects are pretty good about listening to stakeholders. I was involved with this new park years ago during the planning stages and they did a really good job with incorporating pollinator friendly native plants. Pacific Coast Land Design was the contractor on that project and it turned out they did a great job with that.
https://www.pc-ld.com/kellogg-park
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