Ohio Lepidopterists Monitoring Network

The Ohio Lepidopterist Society has been monitoring sites throughout Ohio since 1995.

Monitoring Activity Tracker

Snapshot

Coordinator: Wiedmann, Jerome
Program Started: 1995
Institution Type: Naturalist Organization
Data Availability: Contact Jerry Wiedmann
Species Focus: All butterfly species
Program website
Contact URL: https://www.ohiolepidopterists.org/contact/

Protocol

Protocol Type: Restricted search, Pollard, Transect
Data Type(s): Abundance
Survey Focus: Adults
Incidental Data Collected: Weather, Host / nectar plants, Habitat notes
Visit Frequency: Weekly
Effort Tracking: The amount of time spent on each route is recorded.
Protocol Notes: Routes are established and subdivided into up to 15 sections. Sections may be separated by habitat, but similar habitats are not lumped into the same section (like Illinois). Routes are walked by volunteers who record all butterflies seen in front and to the side, up to ~5m from the observer. All adults are recorded.

Program Results

Publications:

Wepprich T, Adrion JR, Ries L, Wiedmann J, and NM Haddad. 2019. Butterfly abundance declines over 20 years of systematic monitoring in Ohio, USA. PLOS ONE July 9, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216270

Wepprich T. 2019. Statewide butterfly monitoring by volunteer recorders in Ohio reveals a persistent decline in abundance, so what can we do? News of the Lepidopterists' Society 61(3):128-130.

Saunders, S.P., Ries, L., Oberhauser, K.S., and E.F. Zipkin. 2016. Evaluating confidence in population-level prediction from climate impacts: summer abundances of the monarch butterfly. Global Ecology and Biogeography 25(8):1000-1012

Thorson, J.T., Ianelli, J.N., Larsen, E.A., Ries, L., Scheuerell, M.D., Szuwalski, C., and E.F. Zipkin. 2016. Joint dynamic species distribution models: a tool for community ordination and spatio-temporal monitoring.  Global Change Biology 25(9):1144-1158

Cayton, H, N. Haddad, K. Gross, S. E. Diamond and L. Ries. 2015.  Do growing degree days predict phenology across butterfly species?  Ecology 96: 1473–1479

Diamond, S.E., H. Cayton, T. Wepprich, C.N. Jenkins, R.R. Dunn, N.M. Haddad, and L. Ries. 2014. Unexpected phenological responses of butterflies to the interaction of urbanization and geographic temperature. Ecology 95(9):2613-2621.

Ries, L., K. Oberhauser, D. Taron, E. Rendon-Salinas. 2015. Connecting eastern monarch population dynamics across their migratory cycle. In (K. Oberhauser, ed.) Monarchs in a changing world: Biology and conservation of an iconic insect. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, NY.

Zipkin, Elise F., Leslie Ries, Rick Reeves, James Regetz, and Karen S. Oberhauser. 2012. Tracking climate impacts on the migratory monarch butterfly. Global Change Biology 18:3039-3049

Woods, Jennifer N., John Wilson, and James R. Runkle. 2008. Influence of climate on butterfly community and population dynamics in western Ohio. Environmental Entomology 37(3):696-706.