ABSTRACT
The impact of agriculture and of conservation programs on pollinators is important both economically and because they provide critical ecosystem services. Butterflies are a group of pollinators that are both diverse (in terms of the number of species) and relatively easily identified. They serve as excellent indicators of landscape change because they are responsive to vegetation change, often using very specific host plants in the larval stage. Butterflies have been significantly affected by habitat fragmentation in the Midwest (Schlict and Orwig 1998). Species that depend on native habitat, such as wetlands or prairies, are decreasing. In Iowa, two butterfly species are currently listed as endangered, five as threatened, and 25 as species of special concern (Iowa DNR 2005). Here, we consider how the three alternative scenarios envisioned by Nassauer, Corry, and Cruse (Chapter 4, this volume) in landscape futures for Buck Creek and Walnut Creek, Iowa, would affect the diversity of the butterfly community of the region.
