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University of Guelph scientist leads project to recover butterfly species in Ontario
The project has $2.4 million in federal funding and aims to restore a butterfly lost from Ontario for nearly 40 years.
- A University of Guelph team is planning to reintroduce the frosted elfin butterfly to Ontario, targeting the northern shores of Lake Erie in Norfolk County. Researchers intend to release the insects into the wild next spring.
- Urban development and farmland expansion caused the frosted elfin's extirpation in the province, with no sightings in nearly 40 years. The last recorded observation occurred in 1988, according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.
- Biology professor Ryan Norris leads the team, which plans to import butterflies from New York to breed at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory. The federal government provided $2.4 million in funding to support this effort, including preparation of wild sundial lupins.
- This project coordinates the recovery of three at-risk butterfly species, including the mottled duskywing and curiously isolated hairstreak. Researchers previously reintroduced the mottled duskywing at Pinery Provincial Park in Grand Bend, Ont., five years ago.
- Restoring these pollinators, which provide vital food sources for other animals, is key to healthy ecosystems. Norris described the rewilding effort as symbolic, stating, "By us assisting them, we're restoring, rewilding places in Canada.
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University of Guelph scientist working to bring extirpated frosted elfin butterfly back to Ontario
The frosted elfin butterfly, known for its brown hue and delicate wings, was last spotted in Ontario in 1988. A group of Canadian scientists is now working to bring the extirpated species back to the northern shores of Lake Erie in Norfolk County it once inhabited. Extirpation refers to a species' disappearance from a specific geographic region or habitat.
·Ottawa, Canada
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Total News Sources18
Leaning Left14Leaning Right0Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution82% Left
Bias Distribution
- 82% of the sources lean Left
82% Left
L 82%
C 18%
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