Flutterby™! : Flutter 'bye

Partially for the subject matter, and partially 'cause the headline on the front page was Flutter 'Bye: an article on the paucity of butterflies in California this year, notably the Painted Lady, but lots of others too.

Jessica Hellmann, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Notre Dame who researches butterflies throughout North America, has reviewed Shapiro's data and said it is critical in determining long-term changes in butterfly populations.

"We have similar observations for 2006 in California," Hellman said. "It is only because Art has 35 years of data that we can say 2006 is bad and is worse than it's been in a long time.

"Without long-term records, we can't quantify the growing influence of humans on biological diversity."