The Oregon Silverspot butterfly - possible commecial uses tied to it

The Oregon Silverspot butterfly is classified in the following way

• Kingdom - Animalia
• Phylum - Mandibulata
• Class - Insecta
• Order - Lepidoptera
• Family - Nymphalidae
• Genus - Speyeria
  
  One adaptation of the Oregon Silverspot butterfly is that it has silver spots on its underwings and orange on the other side of its wings. Both the orange and silver help to attract mates in the mating process.

Another adaptation of the Oregon Silverspot butterfly is that the female lays its eggs on the leaves of the viola adunca (the early blue violet). The early blue violet is the host plant for the larvae of the Oregon Silverspot butterfly and it provides food for the eggs when they hatch.

A third adaptation of the Oregon Silverspot butterfly is that its larvae find a place to rest during the winter is a state that is similar to hibernation. It keeps the larvae alive so that they can mate during the spring and lay more eggs to keep the species alive.

Our company could make money from the color of the early blue violet. It could be used in as a dye for commercial use. The problem is that the Oregon Silverspot butterfly uses the early blue violet as a host plant and it is a threatened species. If we use the early blue violet for a dye, we will be taking away the environment for the Oregon Silverspot butterfly. Therefore our plan of action should be to change the host plant for the Oregon Silverspot butterfly. By changing the host plant for this butterfly, we can help it have a more stable environment and also leave the early blue violet for our company to use as a dye.

Through selective breeding, we could switch the host plant of the Oregon Silverspot butterfly from the early blue violet to the Canada violet.

Canada Violet (pitured above) and Ealry Blue Violet (pictured below)

Its scientific name is Viola Canadensis L. It is similar in appearance to the early blue violet and even though it is called the Canada Violet, it is able to grow in the same area as the early blue violet. In order to selectively breed the Oregon Silverspot butterfly, we would have to find the butterflies that would willingly go to the Canada Violet and then breed it’s young to lay its eggs on the Canada Violet instead of the early blue violet.

References used:

http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?sourceTemplate=tabular_report.wmt&loadTemplate=species_RptComprehensive.wmt&selectedReport=RptComprehensive.wmt&summaryView=tabular_report.wmt&elKey=114277&paging=home&save=true&startIndex=1&nextStartIndex=1&reset=false&offPageSelectedElKey=114277&offPageSelectedElType=species&offPageYesNo=true&post_processes=&radiobutton=radiobutton&selectedIndexes=114277
http://www.zoo.org/factsheets/silverspot/butterfly.html
http://montana.plant-life.org/eng.html
http://www.ozarkmtns.com/spring/images/springblooms/canadaviolet1-5422.jpg
http://montana.plant-life.org/families/Violaceae.htm

This is the Silver Spot! You may be asking yourself why this blog is called the Silver Spot. We’re all about the Oregon silverspot butterfly here. The Oregon silverspot’s scientific name is speyeria zerene hippolyta. It is a pretty orange butterfly with brown spots and silver spots (hence the name) on the underwings.

http://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/Species/Data/OregonSilverspotButterfly/default.asp

This eukaryote lives in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, mostly in Oregon, but sometimes in Northern California and Washington State. The Oregon silverspot lives in either salt-spray meadows (generally for the nursery of their larva), stabilized dunes or montane grasslands. The Oregon silverspot prefers these habitats because they have colder temperatures, significant snow accumulations, less coastal fog.

The salt-spray meadows are ideal locations for the flower the early blue violet (scientific name viola adunca) of which the Oregon silverspots eat. This flower is important to the Oregon silverspot and its habitat because it is the only known source of food for them in the wild. However, scientists have been able in a laboratory setting gotten the Oregon silverspot to eat nectar from another type of violet.

http://montana.plant-life.org/families/Violaceae.htm

This butterfly is in the kingdom Anamalia and it is an invertebrate. It doesn’t seem like it, but butterflies are also classified as insects. When I think of insects, I think of spiders, not butterflies, but they are both insects.

The poor Oregon silverspot butterfly has been a threatened species since 1980. It could be due to global warming. It has been shown that drought and hotter temperatures in the Pacific Northwest have led to an increase in outbreaks of insects. Therefore, the Oregon silverspot butterfly is more likely to have an increase in population due to the effects of global warming on their environment.

A bioprospector may have interest in the early blue violet for medicinal purposes. The absence of this flower would then decrease the population of Oregon silverspots because the early blue violet is their main food source. So if you consider bioprospecting and global warming, then there would be a larger population of Oregon silverspot butterflies and less food for them to eat. Any increase in the population would soon diminish because of the lack of an adequate food supply.

References
http://www.fws.gov/pacific/Climatechange/changepnw.html
http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/SpeciesReport.do?spcode=I01A
http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/federal_register/fr432.pdf
http://www.zoo.org/factsheets/silverspot/butterfly.html