As the summer winds down, Goldenrod and other native wildflowers are just hitting their blooming peak, changing New Jersey’s landscape into a colorful canvas of fragrant beauty. And with those flowers and warm temperatures comes the next big wave of butterflies in New Jersey. Butterflies are cold-blooded creatures; therefore any hot or warm weather is going to be the best possible time for butterflies to thrive.
There are approximately 20,000 species of butterflies in the world, with about 575 of these occurring regularly in the lower 48 states of the United States, according to the North America Butterfly Association. In New Jersey we are extremely lucky to be home to more than 123 different species of butterflies.
Butterflies are part of a group of insects called Lepidoptera, which are insects having wings covered with scales. Moths are also Lepidoptera, but differ from butterflies by their antennas and also by the way they hold their wings when at rest. Butterfly antennas are shaped somewhat like a golf club, with a long shaft that has a "club" at its end. The moths have antennas that are either simple filaments, tapering to a point at their ends, or are very complicated structures with many cross filaments, looking somewhat like radar antennas. Butterflies also typically hold their wings folded together and vertical when at rest, while moths hold them flat (horizontal) to the body.
The life-span of most adult butterflies is about one month; however, some of the small butterflies may live only a week or so, while others, such as Monarchs and Mourning Cloaks, can live up to nine months. The life of a butterfly is not without perils. They encounter everything from habitat loss to find food or lay eggs, predation, disease, and believe it or not, collisions with automobiles.
Butterflies are an essential part of the environment because they're not only a food source for some wildlife, but, much like the bees, they pollinate plants, which is vital as one-third of the food produced for human consumption is dependent on native pollinators.
Pollination from butterflies is a keystone process for both managed agriculture and natural terrestrial ecosystems. It is critical for food production and agricultural economies and is a direct link from wild ecosystems to agricultural production systems. In nature and in agriculture, many flowering plant species can only produce seeds if a pollinator, such as a butterfly, can move pollen from the one flower to another. Without this service provided by a pollinator such as a butterfly, many interconnected species and natural processes functioning within an ecosystem would collapse.
There are many things you can do to help promote the survival of butterflies and other pollinators in New Jersey, such as limiting or stopping pesticide use in the garden. But by far creating a butterfly friendly habitat around your property is key to perpetuating these species. Creating a butterfly garden or just planting a few native plants that butterflies find beneficial, such as native milkweeds, wild black cherry or willows, you can provide aesthetic beauty to your landscape that adds to the biodiversity of New Jersey and helps ensure that our native butterflies will always stay part of our natural heritage.
This story is a weekly feature that runs with the cooperation of New Jersey Audubon. For more information about NJ Audubon or how to perform conservation efforts on your property, contact John Parke of NJ Audubon at firstname.lastname@example.org or visit njaudubon.org