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Hi All, Oct 30, 2015
The abundance of some insect such as the Monarch Butterfly will be a =
function, not of every factor in its environment, but of those =
relatively few factors which are limiting. Monarch adults can feed on =
many flowers but their larvae require Milkweed leaves so, in principal, =
a shortage of Milkweed leaves could limit populations here.
But if abundance of Milkweed in NS were limiting Monarch populations =
here then one would expect to frequently see Milkweed plants with severe =
reduction in leaf area due to feeding by Monarch larvae. Over the years =
I have seen a lot of Milkweed plants and have rarely seen more than =
slight reduction in leaf area. Most Milkweed plants, in my experience, =
never experience feeding by Monarch larvae.
Therefore I concluded years ago that Milkweed in NS though necessary =
is non-limiting.=20
I don't know about the rest of the valley but it eastern Kings =
Milkweed is characteristic of disturbed, impoverished light soil which =
has good exposure to sunlight. Attempts were made to control it for many =
years, mostly by pulling the plants out before they went to seed, and =
this provided a good seedbed, free of competition, for seeds which blew =
in to take root. And provided assured seasonal employment for those who =
pulled Milkweed.=20
So far as I know it is still classed as a noxious weed and farmers =
can face significant fines if they fail to control it after being =
ordered to do so.=20
There is much to be said for diversity and if conditions or =
management excessively favor one plant, such as Milkweed, then other =
plants are almost sure to become less abundant or even absent.=20
Milkweed has another, and perhaps negative, wrinkle which I =
described in some detail in an earlier post (Pasted below). It is quite =
tough on Honey Bees but the effect may be insignificant relative to =
other factors. Based on the plants along the rail trail just west of =
Kentville in 2001 I would guess that 100 or more Honey Bees were killed =
for every Monarch larvae raised.=20
Yt, DW, Kentville
START OF PASTE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Dear All, July 9, 2001
The stand of Asclepias syriaca, on the rail trail in
Kentville, is especially vigorous this year with lots of insect
activity. While trying to see what some immobile honey bees were
doing, I stumbled onto a mechanism that is too strange for
science fiction. My 100 & some year old Botany book helped
connect the dots.
To make a long story shortest, if you want to see interesting
plant structures, take a good look at a milkweed flower.
To make this story a bit longer, the milkweed flower has five
slits, which are spaced midway between the nectar cups, and at
the upper end of each slit there is a stubby old-fashioned
clothes-pin with a flat waxy saddlebag of pollen conected to each
side by a long strap. When a honey bee slips a foot into one of
these slits and then pulls upward, the hairs between the tarsal
claws get caught in the clothes-pin and after some tugging, both
pollen bags are pulled out. When the bee next gets this foot in a
slit, the pollen bags are torn off near a stigma (not sure how)
and then either hairs on the old clothes-pin or one of the straps
are caught in the new clothes-pin and two more pollen sacs are
pulled out. And so on.
Sometimes a bee gets entangled and dies, perhaps from
exaustion or perhaps getting caught the wrong way (one dead bee
had only one foot caught). In total I saw ~8 dead bees and one
hind leg. I pulled several bees from the flowers and in each
instance a pair of pollen bags came with the leg. One dead bee
that I brought home had six clothes-pins attached in series to
one leg. Two kinds of bumble bee and a slim dark bee (carpenter
perhaps) seemed immune.
Yours truly, Dave Webster, Kentville
----- Original Message -----=20
From: James Churchill=20
To: naturens=20
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2015 11:45 AM
Subject: [NatureNS] [BNS] Milkweed Survey Field Trip - Saturday
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Larry Bogan <larry@bogan.ca>
Date: Thu, Oct 29, 2015 at 2:55 PM
Subject: [BNS] Milkweed Survey Field Trip - Saturday
To: BNS@nature1st.net
Hi all,
This is a reminder the field trip this Saturday the 31st at 10am
I have put up some information in preparation for the field trip. =
Go to the website: http://nw.nature1st.net
In the post on the front page is a post "Milkweed Growth Locations" =
and there are links to two pages
One page has information what is know of Common milkweed in the =
Valley.
The second page provides forms and maps to help do the survey along =
with contact information. (The maps and forms are pdfs for printing)
On Saturday, we will meet at my home at 6539 Brooklyn Street =
(north of Cambridge Station). Here you will see some
Common milkweed. At this time of the year, milkweed has died down =
but it's stalks are quite robust and the seed pods tend to stay on that =
stalk. So it is still
possible to identify where Common milkweed is growing. James Churchill =
and I will tell you what we are looking for and provide the forms and =
maps for the process.
>From here we divide up and cover different areas of the region to add =
to our census of Milkweed plots.
If you want to collect seeds to try to grow milkweed, there are many =
pods with mature seeds in them. We can also dig
up roots in my field to transplant for next year's growth.
If you can not make the meeting on Saturday but would like to be =
involved and/or have discovered milkweed location, please contact me at
larry@bogan.ca or info@nw.nature1st.net
////// =3D=3D=3D ///////
Larry Bogan
Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia
<larry@bogan.ca>
Original Notice:
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Saturday, October 31, 2015 =E2=80=93 Citizen Science: Milkweed =
Mapping. Leaders: Larry Bogan, James Churchill. Milkweed is a vital =
resource for many of Nova Scotia=E2=80=99s butterflies, a number of =
which are Species of conservation concern like Monarchs and Hairstreaks. =
To get a better picture of the distribution of Milkweed, this simple =
citizen science initiative will involve roadside and trailside mapping =
of Milkweed patches in Kings county. Yes, most butterflies will be gone, =
but milkweed should still be visible at this time of year. Similar to =
Christmas Bird counts, we will assign section