Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Butterfly Wing Shape Variation Among Habitats And Their Phylogenetic Relationships, June 2018, Shannon Mccoy
Butterfly Wing Shape Variation Among Habitats And Their Phylogenetic Relationships, June 2018, Shannon Mccoy
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Wing shape and size determines the manner of flight in all organisms with wings, and this is especially true for butterflies and moths. Flight is energetically costly, so selection may have acted on these organisms to create the most optimal wing shape for the activities in which different species engage. In this study, I recorded ten measurements of length, width, and area for each specimen in order to determine if different species of butterflies converged on a particular shape of wing based on their habitat. I also considered the similarities of their wing shape based on their phylogenetic relatedness. The …
How Do Ithomiinae (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) Determine Which Flowers To Feed From?, December 2016, Jessie James
How Do Ithomiinae (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) Determine Which Flowers To Feed From?, December 2016, Jessie James
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Glasswing butterflies, of the subfamily Ithomiinae, feed almost exclusively from plants that produce pyrrolizidine alkaloids as secondary metabolites. They are able to extract the alkaloids from the nectar and use them as pheromones, as well as for chemical defense. The most common of these alkaloid-producing plants in the Monteverde zone is Santa Lucia, an Asteraceae. In order to determine what attracts Ithomiinae to these flowers, I presented them with three types of Santa Lucia flowers: unmodified flowers, dried flowers, and red-colored flowers. If the butterflies respond to visual cues, I predicted that they would visit the unmodified and dried flowers …
Associative Color Learning And Age In Heliconius Butterflies, May 2011, Emily Hollenbeck
Associative Color Learning And Age In Heliconius Butterflies, May 2011, Emily Hollenbeck
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Flower color is an important attractant and many pollinators show distinct color preferences. This study determines if color preference and its lability differ between experienced and naïve Heliconius butterflies. Butterflies were offered nectar in Lantana camara inflorescences, which naturally have flowers of two colors (yellow and red) on a single inflorescence. Butterflies visited yellow flowers more frequently, with 76% of visits to yellow flowers when both flower colors offered nectar. When nectar was offered only by red flowers, yellow preference decreased significantly over time. Newly enclosed butterflies, offered inflorescences where only red flowers rewarded, showed a 56% yellow visitation rate …
Mist Frequency And Butterfly Emergence From The Chrysalis: Implications For Tropical Cloud Forest Climate Change, May 2011, Lindsay Davies
Mist Frequency And Butterfly Emergence From The Chrysalis: Implications For Tropical Cloud Forest Climate Change, May 2011, Lindsay Davies
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
The cloud bank in Monteverde, Costa Rica is rising due to global warming. This is causing fewer misty days and is impacting the habitats of local organisms. Butterflies have been shown to be negatively impacted by moisture in terms of livelihood. Heliconius charithonia, a butterfly species occurring from 0-1200 meters, and Heliconius hecale zuleika, occurring from 0-1700 meters, were exposed to intermittent (five minutes mist, five minutes dry over the course of the day) and intense mist conditions (10 hours of constant mist a day) to measure the effect of mist on survivorship, days to eclosion, and development (in terms …
Inflorescence Size And Butterfly Visitation In Lantana Camara (Verbenaceae), August 2010, Calli Thompson
Inflorescence Size And Butterfly Visitation In Lantana Camara (Verbenaceae), August 2010, Calli Thompson
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Pollinators greatly influence the fitness of most tropical plants, and how effective plants are at attracting pollinators is key to their success. This investigation focuses on how inflorescence size of Lantana camara affects butterfly visitation. Naturally occurring inflorescence size was determined by counting how many flowers per inflorescence and how many inflorescences were in bloom per branch. The average number of flowers per inflorescence is 37 and the average number of inflorescences in bloom per branch is 2. To assess the impact of inflorescence size on butterfly visitation, five different sizes of L. camara inflorescences were created by bundling from …
Shade Coffee Farms As Conservation Tools: A Measure Of Butterfly Diversity In Coffee Agroecosystems In The Monteverde Region Of Costa Rica, May 2010, Katie Thompson
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Costa Rica has experienced a history of high deforestation rates and has become a focus for the region’s conservationists. Coffee agro-ecosystems have recently been considered options for combining biodiversity conservation with economic development in the country. There has been debate over how sufficient shade-grown coffee farms are at maintaining biodiversity levels comparable to those of a forest. In this study, I surveyed butterfly richness, abundance, and diversity in a shade-grown coffee plot, a sun-grown coffee plot, and a secondary forest plot. There was a significant effect of location on number of butterfly species caught daily (F=3.81, P=0.03, df=2). Moving from …
Passiflora (Passifloraceae) Defenses Against Heliconius Cydno (Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae) Oviposition, May 2009, Kim Khuc
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
The purpose of this study was to determine the relative effectiveness of Passiflora defenses: elevated levels of cyanide, egg mimics, and variable leaf shapes, against oviposition from Heliconius cydno. The effectiveness of these defenses would reveal H. cydno’s preferences for oviposition sites and the primary criteria it uses when evaluating oviposition sites. Forty-two Passiflora oerstedii vines from the Monteverde Butterfly Garden, in Costa Rica, were divided into three treatments that added either cyanide, false eggs, or changed the shape of young leaves. Another twelve Passiflora coccinea vines were used in a second experiment that added false eggs to the young …
Captive Breeding Causes Small Body Size In Morpho Peleides Limpida (Nymphalidae: Morphinae), May 2009, Danny Goldish
Captive Breeding Causes Small Body Size In Morpho Peleides Limpida (Nymphalidae: Morphinae), May 2009, Danny Goldish
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Captive breeding has many positive implications in terms of conservation, but when practiced irresponsibly, can result in harmful consequences like inbreeding. Inbreeding has been shown to result in developmental instabilities like small body size and fluctuating asymmetry. In this study, I used small body size as a proxy for inbreeding by comparing measurements of the butterfly Morpho peleides limpida from wild and captive bred populations in terms of right forewing and right antennae length. Both measures of size were found to be larger in wild populations than captive populations. The greatest variation in the means was observed in female right …
Impact Of Reward On Floral Mimics Lantana Camara (Verbenaceae) And Epidendrum Radicans (Orchidaceae), November 2008, Kara Zwickey
Impact Of Reward On Floral Mimics Lantana Camara (Verbenaceae) And Epidendrum Radicans (Orchidaceae), November 2008, Kara Zwickey
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
The fitness of a non-rewarding plant species can be increased by the addition of another plant species with similar flowers and reward present if pollinators are unable to distinguish between the two species (Bierzychudek 1981). Floral mimicry occurs between species when three ecological conditions are met: the model and mimic species must coexist within flight range of an individual pollinator, plant species must share pollinator species, and pollinator individuals visiting one plant must also visit one or both of the other plant species (Bierzychudek 1981). Non-rewarding Epidendrum radicans (Orchidaceae) has been shown to be a Batesian mimic of rewarding Lantana …
Preferential Oviposition By Heliconiinae (Nymphalidae) Butterflies On Passiflora Biflora (Passifloraceae) Leaves With Higher Cyanide Concentrations, May 2008, Phillip Burkholder
Preferential Oviposition By Heliconiinae (Nymphalidae) Butterflies On Passiflora Biflora (Passifloraceae) Leaves With Higher Cyanide Concentrations, May 2008, Phillip Burkholder
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Passiflora spp. produces cyanogenic glycosides to prevent herbivory. The butterfly subfamily Heliconiinae (Nymphalidae) has broken through this defense with the ability to ingest the cyanogenic compounds. A coevolutionary arms race of adaptations and counter-adaptations followed, in which it is believed that Passiflora spp. evolved a series of counter-adaptive defenses, like egg-mimics, leaf shape, and extrafloral nectarines, to specifically combat heliconiines. While sometimes overcoming these adaptations, heliconiines still consider them for oviposition. Additionally, the role of cyanide may also have an effect on oviposition. It has been suggested that while detrimental to larvae, cyanide provides protection that promotes oviposition. There are …
Alcohol Content In Fruit-Feeding Lepidoptera: Preferences And Effects On Flight Time, Pattern, And Speed, May 2008, Lena Gottesman
Alcohol Content In Fruit-Feeding Lepidoptera: Preferences And Effects On Flight Time, Pattern, And Speed, May 2008, Lena Gottesman
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Fruit-feeding Lepidoptera live and feed on rotting fruit and tree sap flows. Eating fermented food is expected to alter their flight behavior making them sluggish and thus more susceptible to predation (Young 1979). Rotting food sources have similar chemical compositions but in different proportions. Ethanol is present in rotting fruits and sap flows (Omura and Honda 2003) and is most likely the agent causing sluggish or groggy behavior (Young 1979). In this study, I examine preference of fruit feeding Caligo spp. (Nyphalidae: Brassolininae) on different baits of varying ethanol concentrations. Furthermore, I examine whether alcohol content and time spent feeding …
Sugar Preference Across Butterfly Families, May 2008, Juliana Olsson
Sugar Preference Across Butterfly Families, May 2008, Juliana Olsson
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Adult butterflies have a carbohydrate-based diet, acquiring their sugars mostly from nectar or from rotting fruits. Fruit-eating butterflies most often encounter fructose and glucose (Omura and Honda, 2003), while nectarivorous butterflies may encounter hexose-rich nectars in short-corolla flowers or sucrose-rich nectars in long-corolla flowers (Baker and Baker, 1983). This study explores the possibility that butterfly species exhibit certain sugar preferences that reflect not only their diet but their phylogeny as well, since feeding habits are often the result of co-evolution with pollination syndromes in the case of nectar-feeding butterflies. Butterflies from as many species as possible were given a solution …
Altitudinal Variation In Ithomiine (Nymphalidae) Color Patterns, May 2007, Nicholas Sullender, Daniel Winokur
Altitudinal Variation In Ithomiine (Nymphalidae) Color Patterns, May 2007, Nicholas Sullender, Daniel Winokur
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Ithomiine butterflies contain several color complexes that fly at different heights in the forest, presumably in response to light conditions (Papageorgis 1975; Burd 1994). If so, these complexes should also respond to altitude, as light conditions in the forest change altitudinally. A previous study by Haber (1978) showed that color complexes do respond to altitude, but in a way inconsistent with light response. Either the previous study failed to incorporate forest conditions, like openness, which also alter light levels, or ithomiine color complexes are responding to altitude for different reasons, including the possibility that each color complex had a different …
Presence Of Protozoan Parasite Ophryocystis Elektroscirrha (Neogregarinda: Ophryocystidae) In Populations Of Butterflies In Monteverde, Costa Rica, May 2005, Jess Singleton
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Ophryocystis elektroschirrha (Neogregarinda: Ophryocystidae), is a parasite found in populations of monarch (Danaus plexippus) and queen (Danuas gilippus) butterflies (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae Danainae) (Altizer & Oberhauser 1997, Altizer et al. 2000, Leong et al. 1997, Vickerman et al. 1999). The parasite has both asexual and sexual stages in its lifecycle, and produces spores while the butterfly is pupating (Yixian Yueh 2005). Larvae become infected when they consume leaves or egg shells contaminated with spores. High densities of spores restrict body size and can reduce fecundity and life span in male adults (Altizer & Oberhauser 1999). This study investigates whether the parasite …
Butterfly Proboscis Length And Pollen Load, November 2004, Charles Mccanna
Butterfly Proboscis Length And Pollen Load, November 2004, Charles Mccanna
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Pollination mutualisms between plants and pollinators facilitate increases in genetic variability for plants while providing rewards for pollinators. Specialization of pollinators on specific plants has occurred to maximize benefits of these pollination mutualisms. With this specialization, pollination syndromes have evolved that increase a flower’s chance of eliciting visitation of a specific pollinator. For example, “butterfly flowers” have evolved bright colors, short to medium corollas, and strong scents that tend to attract butterflies. However, some of these flowers have evolved long corollas to specialize on long proboscis butterflies. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of corolla length …
A Protozoan Parasite In Wild And Captive Monarch Butterfly Populations Near Monteverde, Costa Rica, November 2004, Joanna Hsu
Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]
Although the protozoan parasite Ophyrocystis elektroscirrha was first recovered from Danaus plexippus (Nymphalidae: Danainae) and Danaus gilippus populations in Florida in 1966 and has since been found in many other monarch and queen populations worldwide, no previous studies have shown that this parasite infects butterflies in Costa Rica. This study is the first to do so, documenting the occurrence of Ophryocystis elektroscirrha in a wild and butterfly garden population of D. plexippus near Monteverde, Costa Rica. Although only a few infected individuals were found in both populations, there was a stark contrast in the number of parasites per individual between …