PoweshiekSkipper.jpg: The Poweshiek skipperling, a rare prairie butterfly, is one of many butterfly species facing drastic declines in the U.S. Credit: Ruth Thornton.

Knight Center graduate student Ruth Thornton recently completed her master’s professional project titled “Butterflies in decline and saving the Poweshiek skipperling from extinction,” publicly available online on her website.

In the first of a series of three feature articles, Thornton explores recent scientific studies describing a decline in overall butterfly abundance of nearly a quarter between 2000 and 2020 and investigating the causes of the drastic decline, including pesticide use, habitat loss and climate change.

She also talks to experts researching non-chemical control of a prominent insect pest of soybeans to try to reduce the amount of pesticides applied to agricultural fields, a key suspect in the decline of butterflies in the Midwest.

David Pavlik at John Ball Zoo monitors breeding cages holding rare Poweshiek skipperlings for release into the wild. Credit: Ruth Thornton.

The second article focuses on the Poweshiek skipperling, a once-common small prairie butterfly that is now federally endangered and found in only two places – Manitoba, Canada, and Southeast Michigan.

Thornton describes the efforts of scientists rearing the butterflies in zoos for release into the wild to bolster the rapidly dwindling wild populations and the initial promising results of those attempts.

The third article tells the story of the efforts and recent concerning changes in the Michigan township where the last Poweshiek skipperlings are found. They include eliminating a natural resource manager position that had been pivotal in securing the expertise and funding needed to manage the natural areas the skipperling depends on, and a proposed gravel mine that could impact the sensitive hydrology of the last remaining strongholds.