Endangered Ecosystems: Butterflies and Caterpillars

Join research teams in Nepal and New Mexico to learn about global ecosystems, the important roles of large and small animals within an ecosystem, and the threats to their survival.

The caterpillar is at the bottom of the food chain, AND can also be one of the most plentiful forest inhabitants, which means they are critical for the ecosystem. Changes in their populations may provide early warning of a distressed ecosystem.

Himal Simikot Nepal

Butterflies are a vital and unique part of the life support system in Nepal. There are 635 butterfly species present in Nepal ecosystems.  Most species are concentrated in the tropical forest areas.  The Himalayan flowers are dying out because of the reduction in the numbers of the butterfly species. When butterflies die, the pests that they eat increase and the farmer is threatened. Those who benefit by having their pests eaten by caterpillars and their crops enhanced by cross pollination are hurt. The ecosystem that sustains Nepal is being thrown out of gear. The reduction in greenery, pesticides and the theft of butterflies from the Himalayas has serious implications for the preservation of biodiversity.

Wheeler Peak New Mexico

In New Mexico, there are over 300 species of Butterflies.  New Mexico is ranked third in the nation for butterfly populations. The importance of butterflies in New Mexico ecosystems is significant, as they are pollinators for wildflowers and agricultural crops and promote the conservation of our natural wildlife heritage.  The Sandia hairstreak thrive in New Mexicos’ semiarid climate where different years bring floods and droughts and where the terrain is beautiful but rugged.  The Sandia hairstreak can be found among the native beargrass in New Mexico’s wide-open spaces as well as in towns and cities where the beargrass plant grows…the Sandia hairstreak, a New Mexico native, does not migrate, but stays in the New Mexico landscape year-round.

Butterfly Ecology

Your mission as a student:

• Learn about endangered ecosystems, caterpillars, and butterflies.
• Learn about Ecosystem research, and why scientific study of natural populations are important.
• Do your own research on ecosystems and food webs in your community.

Field Sites:

Carson National Forest, NM

Nepal Forest

Field Reports

New Mexico

Welcome

Welcome to New Mexico! For the next two weeks we will spend our days and nights together as we research caterpillars and explore the forest.

 Terry Rodgers, a forest health official with the U.S. Forest Service in Albuquerque, said officials have had numerous calls from New Mexico about the pests.

Western Tent Infestation

“Apparently the caterpillars were just extreme in their numbers and causing extreme defoliation,” he said. “They have already stripped the trees.”

While caterpillars were in force last summer, Rodgers said this year’s invasion was likely made worse because of the mild winter.

Winter

Hosts: Aspen, willows, cottonwoods, and mountain mahogany.

Biology:

Larvae overwinter as first instars inside egg masses glued around twigs. Larvae emerge from egg masses in spring and construct silken tents on branches that are used for shelter and molting during the daytime. At night, caterpillars feed outside of the tents. As the larvae mature, they disperse and become solitary feeders. Moths emerge from cocoons and glue egg masses to live twigs that are less than 2 cm in diameter.

Western Tent

 Mature larvae are 4 to 5 cm long and vary widely in coloration. Their heads are blue to black and body color patterns are mixtures of black, orange and blue.

Symptoms/Signs:

Western tent caterpillar is an early season defoliator
with feeding damages typically occurring between May and June. Symptoms include
moderate to complete defoliation of trees; large silken tents on branches; and
presence of larvae in and around the tents. Trees repeatedly defoliated will
have sparse foliage, minor branch dieback, and in some cases, tree mortality. Larvae are usually quite hairy.

Tents

After emerging from their eggs, the caterpillars feed indiscriminately
for about a month and build tents in the tree branches before finding a place
to spin their cocoons.

Adult Western Tent

In about two weeks, a brown moth with a stout body emerges.

Effects:
Heavy defoliation of aspen for a number of years will cause growth loss and
branch dieback. Some mortality may also occur during prolonged outbreaks.
Outbreaks, however, are generally short lived, generally lasting 2 to 3 years.

**In Nepal, Caterpillars are much more essential to the Tropical Forest ecosystsem.  They have even become a comodoty!

Nepalese Caterpillar Fungus

Nepal

Biodiversity

Globally, Nepal ranks twenty-fifth in biodiversity with about 118 ecosystems, 75 vegetation types and 35 forest types. There are over 5,100 species of flowering plants.  Out of the 5,100 species about 370 species of flowering plants are considered endemic to Nepal and about 700 species are known to possess medicinal properties. Protected Areas alone contain 191 endemic species.  Anthropogenic  effects have led to inclusion of 61 species on the list of threatened species for Nepal.  Butterfly theft is contributing to these decreases in species.  They are critical to their environment as pollinators, and pest control.  Without butterflies, the pest kill out plants, and the entire ecosystem suffers.

Nepal also has an estimated 700 species with medicinal properties and about 571 species have already been confirmed as medicinal plants.

With the drastic reduction in Butterflies due to theft, the Ecosystems are endangered in Nepal.

Show What you know with these Game-Based Learning lessons!

Show what you know!

Choose the game you would like to play! Lets Learn!!

Inquiry-Based Learning: New Mexico River Ecosystems

In this unit plan for mid & high school earth and environmental science, students explore the impact of human activity on the health of rivers in urban and non-urban settings. Students mimic current scientific research by measuring physical and biological indicators of river health.
Many rivers in the United States are far from clean and healthy. Lets look at the Rio Grande River in Albuquerque, NM. Try to determine if this River is a healthy life-sustaining or endangered ecosystem.

Engagement Activity

What is an Urban Stream?

An urban stream is a formerly natural waterway that flows through a heavily populated area. Urban streams are often polluted by urban runoff and combined sewer outflows.

Urban Rio Grande

Urban Runoff

Rural Rio Grande

Students: share ways in which the urban river looked different from the natural or rural river.
Student Handouts

BRAINSTORM

Exploration Activity

In this exploration activity, students examine photographs of Upper Rio Grande(turbid) and Lower Rio Grande(dry), record observations about how the two sites differ, and speculate on how these differences might affect the water quality at the two sites.

Upper Rio Grande

High Turbiditiy

Semi-Arid Climate

Lower Rio Grande

River Pollution

Drought Conditions

Observation Sheet

Students: record observations about how the two sites differ and speculate on how these differences might affect the water quality at the two sites. Then suggest attributes you might like to measure in order to assess whether or not the two sites differ in river health.

Goals of this activity are to help you:
1) become familiar with and interested in the Upper and Lower Rio Grande sites,
2) make detailed observations about how particular urban and forested stream sites differ
3) think about how river health could be effect Ecosystem health.

Water Cycle: River Aquifer Interface

 

 

Explanation

This section explains the various ways, direct and indirect, that humans affect river ecosystems.

Human Impacts

River-Rafting

Humans affect stream ecosystems in a number of ways, both directly and indirectly. Rivers in urban areas are exposed to particular types of human impacts that cause characteristic physical, chemical, and biological attributes. These attributes of urban rivers are sometimes referred to as the “urban stream syndrome.”

Relationship between impervious cover and surface runoff. Impervious cover in a watershed results in increased surface runoff. As little as 10 percent impervious cover in a watershed can result in riverbed degradation

River flow after a storm surge, pre- and post-development.

Changes in river channel shape, floodplain, and water table after development.

Elaboration: Physical measurement of stream health

In these elaboration activities, students measure the physical properties of streams to evaluate stream health. The activity may be adapted to classroom use or to field work, and sample data is provided.

The physical properties of a stream, such as the channel shape, the substrate size, and the available habitats, play an important role in determining the type and diversity of organisms that the stream can support. These physical attributes provide useful information on ecosystem function and stream health.

Habitat diversity

Pool

Riffle

Run

From top to bottom: riffles, a run, and a pool. Each is a different habitat that supports different kinds of aquatic life. (Click individual photos to enlarge. Photo credits: top, middle, bottom.)

In the field, scientists measure a variety of componenets of the physical environment in a river. One important physical attribute is habitat diversity. A typical river contains three major types of habitats: riffles, runs, and pools. A riffle is an area of fast moving, rapid water. A run is an area of smoothly moving water. A pool is an area of stagnant water. Each habitat type supports different types of aquatic life, so a river with a greater diversity of habitat types will generally support a greater diversity of organisms and an overall Sustaining Ecosystem.

Students: examine the map and identify each location where the habitat changes from one habitat type (riffle, run, or pool) to another. Record the order of the different habitat types encountered on the data sheet. Count the number of habitat transitions for the 50 meter section of stream at their site.

Next go through the Physical Measurement activities in the Student Handout-

Student Data Sheet

Additional Resources:lowerriopebbles riotribpebbles upperriopebbles

Evaluation

Students:

work in pairs to write up a formal lab report based on your analysis of the class data.

Participate in a class discussion about whether or not Lower Rio Grande

has recovered from the effects of urbanization and if the River ecosystem is sustaining or endangered.

Mapping Metaverse

 

This will be an opportunity for Learners to access Mapping resources for Global Ecosystems etc….

A virtual Training resource and guide to creating custom maps for class presentation purposes.

Mapping Metaverse

 

Global Ecosystems

What is a Global Ecosystem?

This can be defined as: a world’s ecosystem, or how all the animals in the world (including humans) interact with each other, the environment, and abiotic factors such as climate.  Human Interaction is critical, which is the direction or aim of the TELE project.

 

Global Ecosystem Website

USGS Global Ecosystems Mapper Demo

TELE

TELE project seeks to encourage collaboration among learners and educators using emergent technologies and platforms freely available and accessible.  This facilitates an open exchange of dialogue and data. Initial content surrounds the concept of global ecosystems. The basis of scientific exchange is derived based on stakeholder need and requisite scientific program curriculum in support of the ECO Club international prototype housed at one of the partner sites.

http://www.unm.edu/~pearl1/GlobalEcosystems.htm

Link to WebSite