ecocrazysean

We chose butterflies for a number of reasons. One of the most important is that butterflies can be good "indicator" species, especially in response to changes in climate. They are poikilotherms ("cold blooded") so their metabolism is directly related to the temperature of their environment. But they are also easy to spot, especially the cabbage white because it has invaded many parts of the world and may be one of the most abundant butterflies on the planet. Insects generally, are also incredibly important to the functioning of many ecosystems, so we feel it's important to get people interested and excited about them =) The fact that this butterfly has recently invaded many parts of the world is the main reason we chose this butterfly (and it's easy to catch).

Great question.

Most butterflies do have a relatively short life span as a "butterfly" - maybe a few weeks for most species. But they are caterpillars and a pupae (chrysalis) for quite a long portion of the year. We often forget that the butterfly stage is only one of three =) So most butterflies (all stages) live for about 3-9 months I would say.

Adaptation comes from variation in a population - whether from mutations or from what is called "standing genetic variation" (variation that is already there). Usually mutation plays a bigger role over longer periods of time (creating variation that never existed), while over short time scales, adaptation arises more from natural selection on the variation that already exists. But there is still debate on this =) This is an important question in the context of climate change - climate change is going to be rather rapid and if species lack sufficient (standing) genetic variation, will they be able to adapt? (given that mutation is usually a relatively slow process; except in bacteria). Crazy enough we actually don't know the answer, but people are trying to figure this out (including us).

They do, but it's OK. Pretty soon they'll call me Dr. Ryan =)

Personally no, but there are a number of studies that have

the giant silk or sphynx moth? they are amazing