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Regal Fritillary and its Host Plant Studied at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (Iowa)
Ecological Restoration
  • Diane M. Debinski, Iowa State University
  • Pauline Drobney, United States Fish & Wildlife Service
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
1-1-2000
Abstract

Traditional tallgrass prairie restoration efforts have focused primarily on planting and managing the dominant species of prairie vegetation. Meanwhile, little is known about techniques for restoring prairie insect species, many of which play important roles in pollination and seed dispersal. The regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia) is a prairie endemic butterfly that was once abundant in the Midwest, but now occurs in small, widely-separated populations. The regal and its host plants~bird’s-foot violet (Viola pedata) and prairie violet (V. pedatifida) in Iowa--are found almost exclusively in unplowed native prairie. We have initiated an experiment to restore the regal fritillary at the 5,000-acre Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), which is located just east of Des Moines. Here we report on previous research as well as our progress to date in restoring the regal fritillary

Comments

This article is from Ecological Restoration 18 (2000): 254.

Rights
Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Diane M. Debinski and Pauline Drobney. "Regal Fritillary and its Host Plant Studied at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (Iowa)" Ecological Restoration Vol. 18 Iss. 4 (2000) p. 254 - 255
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/diane_debinski/33/