User:Kopph/New sandbox

Copied from Butterfly gardening

Introduction
Butterfly gardening is a great way to create, improve, and maintain habitat for Lepidopterans including butterflies, skippers, and moths. Butterflies have four distinct life stages—egg, larva, chrysalis, and adult. In order to support and sustain butterflies populations, an ideal butterfly garden contains habitat for each life stage. Butterfly larvae, except the carnivorous harvester (Feniseca tarquinius), consume plant matter and can be generalists or specialists. While butterflies like the painted lady (Vanessa cardui) are known to consume over 200 plants as caterpillars, other species like the monarch (Danaus plexippus) and the regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia) only consume plants in one genus, milkweed and violets, respectively. As adults, butterflies feed on nectar, but they have also evolved to consume rotting fruit, tree sap, and even carrion. Supporting nectarivorous adult butterflies involves planting nectar plants of different heights, color, and bloom times. Butterfly bait stations can easily be made to provide a food source for species that prefer fruit and sap. In addition to food sources, wind breaks in the form of trees and shrubs shelter butterflies and can provide larval food and overwintering grounds. "Puddling" is a behavior generally done by male butterflies in which they gather to drink nutrients and water and incorporating a puddling ground for butterflies will enhance a butterfly garden. While butterflies are not the only pollinator, creating butterfly habitat also creates habitat for bees, beetles, flies, and other pollinators.

Why Garden?
Butterfly gardening provides a recreational activity to view butterflies interacting with the environment. Besides anthropocentric values of butterfly gardening, creating habitat reduces the impacts of habitat fragmentation and degradation. Habitat degradation is a multivariate issue; development, increased use of pesticides and herbicides, woody encroachment, and non-native plants are contributing factors to the decline in butterfly and pollinator habitat. Pollination is one ecological service butterflies provide; about 90% of flowering plants and 35% of crops rely on animal pollination. Butterfly gardens, even in urban, developed neighborhoods provide habitat that increases butterfly diversity and also pollinators like bees, flies, and beetles.

Ground-truthing
Before buying plants and digging into the soil, "ground-truthing" is a necessary first step, Ground-truthing involves surveying your property in order to asses the current resources available. Some aspects to keep in mind are the following:


 * south-facing slopes
 * natural wind breaks
 * present plant species


 * present butterfly species

Butterflies are ectothermic and rely on solar radiation for their metabolism. South-facing slopes are an ideal location for a butterfly garden, as they provide the most solar radiation. Shrubs and trees provide wind breaks for butterflies, and can also be host plants, such as spicebush (Lindera benzoin) or pawpaw (Asimina triloba).

Plants
The types of plants used in a butterfly garden will determine which species of butterflies will visit your garden. Lepidoptera societies and the Department of Natural Resources often provide state and county distribution maps of local butterflies so you know which species you are able to attract. There are lists of butterfly species and their host plants which are informative to the plant species needed in the garden (Larval food plants of Lepidoptera). While non-native plants do provide flora resources later in the season, they have an overall negative effect on butterflies and other pollinators. Therefore, it is recommended to use native plants. There are lists of plants by region to research which plants would be suitable to plant (https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/pollinator-friendly-plant-lists).

Puddling
"Puddling" refers to the behavior of male butterflies congregating on soil, dung, and carrion to feed on nutrients, specifically sodium. Nectar is low in sodium, and sodium is a limiting nutrient for Lepidoptera. Male butterflies are able to transfer sodium to females during copulation. The sodium is passed onto offspring and increases reproductive success. To create a simple puddling habitat, fill a shallow dish (like a draining tray for a pot) with sand. To increase the nutrients, mix compost with the sand. Add footholds for butterflies by adding different sized rocks.

Baiting
There are numerous recipes for creating butterfly bait, but they have common ingredients. Fermentation is the key to a good bait, as it mimics the fermentation of rotting fruit and sap in the natural environment. Recipes include blending rotten fruit (i.e. bananas) with beer, maple syrup, molasses, or sugar. Often yeast is added as well to the mixture and left to ferment for a week. The bait can be laid on stumps, rocks, and tree limbs.