Realm: Terrestrial
Climate: Temperate
Biome: Temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands
Central latitude: 40.023146
Central longitude: -105.222787
Duration: 2 years, from 1999 to 2000

1571 records

58 distinct species

Across the time series Colias philodice is the most frequently occurring species

Methods

This data paper documents surveys of butterfly diversity and abundance in grasslands of Boulder County Colorado during the years 1999 and 2000. The surveys were conducted on 66 established sites in the 10000 hectares managed by the Boulder Open Space Department (Bock and Bock 1994). These protected grassland sites are located in a green belt which surrounds the city of Boulder Colorado and include relictual tallgrass prairie lowland hayfields in floodplains and short- and mixed-grass prairies adjacent to foothill woodlands (Bock et al. 1995). These sites should remain free of development in the coming years providing a stable study area ideal for long-term monitoring. The data were used to analyze the effects of habitat characteristics and landscape context on grassland butterfly diversity and abundance (Collinge et al. 2003). The data set represents 7246 individuals of 58 butterfly species in 5 families. These data correspond to a majority of Boulder County grassland butterfly diversity and reflect the phenology of these species for the summer months of the two years sampled (A complete list of all butterfly species found in Boulder County can be found at the USGS Butterflies of North America web site [Opler et al. 1995]). The data set includes endangered butterfly species as well as surveys from rare habitat types (tallgrass prairie). These data are presented with the hope that they improve our understanding of large scale determinants of local and global abundances and diversity. Although these data alone do not constitute a long-term data set (2 years) and the temporal scale is slightly coarse (monthly) by using the standard sampling techniques presented here researchers may generate additional fine-scale (weekly) data to constitute a long-term data set. - Field/Laboratory: In brief we surveyed 66 sites in Boulder County Open Space Grasslands five times over two years: twice in 1999 (July and August) and three times in 2000 (June July August). Sites were sampled on sunny days between 1000 and 1600 hours. We used a modified line-transect method (Pollard 1977) to survey a 200-m-diameter circle (Collinge et al 2003). Each plot was divided into four quadrants of equal area and each quadrant was surveyed for 10 minutes by a trained observer. Beginning 20 paces from the center of the plot an observer walked over the entire area of the quadrant for 10 minutes. The first three to five individuals of each butterfly species observed were collected with butterfly nets and stored in glassine envelopes for the voucher collection. Individuals that could not be immediately identified were collected and identified at the Entomology Collection of the University of Colorado Museum. All butterfly species and their absolute abundance were recorded. Voucher specimens were deposited in the Entomology Collection of the University of Colorado Museum. Unit of abundance = IndCountInt, Unit of biomass = NA

Citation(s)

Oliver, J. C., Prudic, K. L. & Collinge, S. K. (2006) Boulder County Open Space butterfly diversity and abundance. Ecology, 87, 1066.