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The federally endangered Schaus' swallowtail butterfly (Heraclides aristodemus ponceanus) inhabits subtropical dry forests in the Florida Keys
Source publication
This study implemented an active-learning curriculum unit involving butterfly conservation and gardening at three schools in south Florida. An experimental group of classes received plants to take home; students maintained their plants and observed insect activity for two months. The control group of classes did not receive take-home items. Student...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... Schaus' swallowtail butterfly (Heraclides aristodemus ponceanus) was deployed as the flagship butterfly species and ambassador for butterfly and insect conservation in south Florida (Figure 1). In 1976, the Schaus' swallowtail was the first butterfly federally listed as endangered, and was declared in danger of extinction in 1984 (Smith, Miller, Miller, & Lewington, 1994;USFWS, 2017). ...
Citations
... Participants gained lifelong lessons and character traits such as responsibility through nature. It could be beneficial for more public schools, not just nature-focused schools, to implement nature regular immersion experiences such as gardening [67], or even more basic experiences such as digging in the ground or leaning on a tree [36]. ...
The goal of this study was to explore facets of childhood eco-connections, using retrospective qualitative data from adults. One hundred and forty-five adults from predominantly rural and small-town communities in southern Appalachia (71.7% female), average age 36.23 years (SD = 12.08) participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews on key life experiences and the places they grew up. Mentions about place-related childhood memories or interactions were grouped into four themes based on exploratory thematic content analysis: nature nostalgia (positive reminiscences about nature experiences); nature immersion (extensive contact with the natural world during childhood); formative experiences with nature (nature interactions that taught a skill or life lesson); and rhythms of nature (appreciation of seasonal or cyclical patterns). Childhood eco-connections are multifaceted and often emerge from early impactful or intense experiences. Pro-environmentalism messages to youth may benefit from more references to childhood eco-connections.
We place the information entailed within this book in the larger context of caterpillar studies, beginning with the early naturalists and ranging through various new approaches made available by advancing technology and statistics. We suggest two major research areas that could profitably become the foci of research in the near future: forces driving the diversity of caterpillar morphology, color, and behavior, with a focus on larval ontogeny; and anthropogenic influences on declining Lepidoptera diversity, especially impacts via the caterpillar stage of the lepidopteran life cycle. The research results covered in this volume provide overwhelming evidence that both the generation and maintenance of Lepidoptera diversity can only be understood in the context of tritrophic interactions.
