We saved a native butterfly; now let's save our soils
An atala butterfly on native lantana in Pan’s Garden
October 23, 2021
I was delighted on a recent visit to Pan’s Garden at the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach to see a plethora of beautiful atala butterflies fluttering about.
Considering the atala was listed as “presumed extinct” as recently as 1968, it has made a remarkable comeback through the diligent efforts of dedicated naturalists and concerned citizens to re-establish its host plant, the coontie. The stunning blue/black atala butterfly was the most conspicuous insect in South Florida in 1888 when its only host plant, the native cycad coontie (Zamia integrifolia), was also in great abundance.
The atala lays its eggs on the coontie leaves, and the eggs hatch into caterpillars, which then eat the leaves, spin their cocoons and emerge as butterflies. Unfortunately for the butterflies, Native Americans and European settlers learned to harvest the roots of the coontie as a food source; then, during the building boom of the early 1900s developers further depleted the cycad’s population. By the 1950s, the coonties were almost all gone, and with them went the butterflies.
In 1979, when Roger Hammer found larvae of the “extinct” atala butterfly on some coonties he discovered in a remote area of the Keys, the recovery of this wonderful butterfly began. Coonties with atala larvae were re-established at Fairchild Tropical Garden and other wildlife areas, and the rest is history. The atala, once incredibly prolific, then nearly extinct, is now abundant again.
Importance of pollinators
Understanding the importance of our butterflies and pollinators and that they are host-specific to certain native species has led to a resurgence of gardening with native plants. The more native species we add to all our gardens, the more habitat we provide for the essential insects that provide sustenance for our birds and wildlife, and ultimately for us. The other single most important component to consider in maintaining sustainable landscapes is the soil. Pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides are all, quite simply, poisons.
Our continued and unrelenting application of these chemicals to our landscapes is systematically killing the essential micronutrients that enable our plants to flourish. Chemical weapons developed in Nazi Germany as nerve agents were later determined to be effective in killing agricultural pests, and for the past 80 years, organophosphates, organochlorines, N-methyl carbonates, synthetic pyrethroids and the more recently released glyphosate have been used on a massive scale in United States agriculture and on home landscapes.
Produced and promoted to kill insects, weeds and fungi, they also kill us. The last EPA study of pesticide use that I could find dated to 2012, showing the three most common active ingredients used in the industry were glyphosate, chlorothalonil, and 2,4-D (also known as Agent Orange). A conservative estimate of pesticide use in American agriculture dating to 2010 was 1.2 billion pounds per year, about 4 pounds for every man, woman and child. That was a decade ago, and the numbers have increased dramatically since then.
Beautiful berries of wild coffee, a great native hedge plant for sun or shade
I recognize our desire for beautiful landscapes and appreciate the privacy afforded by lovely green hedges. But there are so many beautiful, effective native alternatives to ficus, or any species that requires pesticides. Why do we continue to dump deadly chemicals onto our soils, killing the beneficial bacteria essential to plant productivity while polluting our water and the air we breathe?
That these chemicals cause lasting nervous system damage, brain damage, lung damage, birth defects, numerous cancers, behavioral and developmental problems, sterility and death is well-documented and no longer disputed. Yet our landscaping companies are somehow able to convince us that eliminating the weeds and bugs in our lawns or the whitefly in our hedges is more important than our health and that of our children and pets. Every time I see another “environmental” truck roll over the bridge into Palm Beach I cringe. And those tiny, insidious signs left in the grasses of median strips and lawns warning us to "stay off for 48 hours" are equally alarming.
Carbon in the atmosphere
A major concern of the climate crisis is the overabundance of carbon in our atmosphere. If we stopped discharging all carbons tomorrow, we would still be unable to avert the climate crisis we face. We need to take carbon out of the atmosphere, and here’s where soil comes into play. Every handful of healthy soil contains trillions of living microbes that break down plant matter into carbon. Healthy soil can sequester enormous amounts of carbon and keep it locked up for centuries.
This process depends on the mycorrhizal fungi that grow on the roots of plants and that have been around since time immemorial. Plants capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it to sugars used for energy and growth through photosynthesis. This is the first step of carbon sequestration. Soil microorganisms decompose organic matter, cycle nutrients, and fertilize the soil. The mycorrhizal fungi capture and store carbon to support these essential microbes.
Soil loaded with synthetic chemicals including pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and fertilizers has weakened or eliminated microbial life. Lack of microbes results in a debilitated soil with compromised structure unable to withstand drought, flooding, or any stress and unable to store carbon. If organic gardening and farming methods were to become the norm, we would immediately reduce our carbon load and greatly mitigate our climate crisis.
Native cycad coontie, which is the only host plant of the atoll butterfly
Planting native species
Planting native species and using organic mulch to control weeds and conserve moisture is far more effective than applying chemicals to your lawns and gardens. Native plants support our necessary pollinators and mulch decomposes to releases nutrients into the soil, increasing organic material that soil microbes retain as carbon. Sources of mulch can be grass, leaves, composted garden waste, or pine straw, all of which are easily accessible.
We as homeowners can, through small individual steps, make a big impact on reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and creating more sustainable, healthy landscapes. We brought back the atala butterfly — let’s now try to save our soils, and ourselves in the process.
If you employ a landscaping company that advocates using chemicals, please reconsider what you are allowing them to apply to your landscapes. I watched a landscaping “technician” inject imidacloprid into the base of a large ficus hedge along the Intracoastal the other day. He assured me that it was necessary for the health of the plant and that once taken up by the plants’ roots, it would disappear.
Not so. Imidacloprid is a highly toxic systemic neonicotinoid that works by disrupting the nervous system of insects, in this case, whitefly. But it also kills all beneficial insects, and it remains in the soil for years, eventually leaching into our groundwater.
Palm Beach is a small community; let’s try to ensure that we as neighbors can all breathe clean air, drink clean water, and eat food uncontaminated by poisons.
-Kim Frisbie
Original article on the Palm Beach Daily News is HERE.
An Atala butterfly perches on a Seagrape leaf at Phipps Ocean Park in August 2020. Photo by Meghan McCarthy/Daily News