The Rapid Decline of Butterfly Abundance and Diversity in the United States with Dr. Nick Haddad

Session Description

Over the past two decades, the United States has lost a quarter of its butterflies. This includes loss of common species like monarchs and cabbage whites, and rare species on the verge of extinction. We know this from data accumulated by thousands of individuals, and not only scientists, who have done tens of thousands of surveys and recorded millions of butterflies. Solutions to reverse declines are in our grasp, but need to be acted on now.

Speaker Bio

Nick Haddad is co-lead of the Long Term Ecological Research site at Kellogg Biological Station of Michigan State University. He leads decades-long, landscape-scale experiments that bring scientific principles to conservation actions. He studies how landscapes diversity, including prairie strips through croplands, affect biodiversity, especially of plants and insects, and of ecosystem services including pollination, biocontrol, and decomposition. For three decades he has led the world’s largest experiment testing the role of landscape corridors in increasing dispersal of most plant and animal species, and increasing plant diversity. He has conducted long-term restoration experiments to guide conservation of rare butterflies in the face of climate and land use change. Nick brings together ideas in science and management through ConservationCorridor.org. Nick received his BS at Stanford and PhD at University of Georgia.