Research Training Program

Kimberly Vann
University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, Virginia

John Brown, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
Department of Entomology

"I feel as if I am a different person today than I was when I started because of all the knowledge I have gained. I know so much more now about my field, and know this will be invaluable to my future. "

The Butterflies and Moths of Plummers Island

National parks provide natural resources that are both important to ecology and offer a glimpse of nature to visitors. To maintain these resources, it is first important that the environment and its inhabitants are understood so that they can be preserved. Plummers Island is part of the C&O Canal National Historical Park in Maryland, and had been often studied because of its former ownership by the Washington Biologists' Field Club. Much is known about many of the plants and animals on the Island, but a very important group has been ignored. The day-flying butterflies and moths are invaluable in the habitat, being the most diverse group of plant feeding insects. It is important to understand what butterflies and moths are present because of their relationships to plants and their role in pollination. Butterflies were surveyed through a combination of trapping methods, visual identifications, and reviewing historical records. With these data, a list of butterflies found on the island was compiled. While not complete, it provides important data for preserving their future. A day-flying moth species, the gypsy moth, was previously unknown from Plummers Island, but known to be in the D.C. area. The presence of the gypsy moth is an important study because it is an introduced species and known to be a pest. Through the use of pheromone trapping, a technique using wing traps and a sexual attractant, the population of gypsy moths on Plummers Island was sampled, and these moths were found to be in high abundance. There were only five species of day-flying moths, known as clearwing moths, known on the island, and these were all collected around the turn of the century. To survey the species present today, pheromone trapping was used, and only one species was found. This lack of diversity is important to know because it shows a decrease in the number of species previously recorded in Plummers Island, helping to understand the effects of environmental changes.

This research was supported by a grant from NMNH Office of the Director.

Letter of gratitude