Butterflies in the alpine will be the topic at the last meeting of this season for the Bow Valley Naturalists on Wednesday, April 25th at 7:30 pm in the Banff Seniors Centre. Guest speaker Dr. Jens Roland will present a program titled: “Alpine Butterflies: winter weather determines summer abundance.”
Butterflies, as a group, are perhaps the best examples of animals shifting their distribution in response to climate warming. Many species have moved either further north or higher in elevation as the planet warms. But climate change is not simply a trend of gradual warming; it also produces greater variation in weather as evidenced by recent extreme winters (both cold and warm) across the globe.
In this talk, Dr. Roland will present data on 15 years of research on the Rocky Mountain Apollo butterfly, from 23 populations in Kananaskis, Alberta, showing that increasingly variable winters cause butterfly populations to decline.
Jens Roland is Professor of Ecology in the Department of Biology, University of Alberta, and studies the effects of changing environments on the dynamics of insect populations. His BSc. is from the U. of A. while his MSc. and PhD in Zoology, were earned at the University of British Columbia. He and his students study large populations of defoliating forest insects, especially moths, as well as small populations of alpine butterflies.
The program is free and open to the public.
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Bow Valley Naturalists (BVN) is a charitable, incorporated Alberta Society of approximately 140 people in the Banff - Canmore area of Alberta, Canada. We have been actively involved in natural history and conservation projects since our inception in 1967.