By Hanna du Toit
The Karoo BioGaps butterfly survey team is gearing up for
our second field season. During the first season from September 2016 to March
2017 we visited 34 sites; obtained 370 species occurrence records and collected
140 DNA samples. This year we are focusing on sites we haven't visited yet and
those from which we got a low yield in the last season. We have 8 expert
surveyors to cover the whole BioGaps region and this is quite a challenge
because the distances to cover are vast. We only know when we get to a site
whether it has had rain, which is critical to our butterflies emerging. This
coming season we will only visit a site after we have good evidence that it has
had rain.
The cooperation we have received from the farmers has been
amazing and in many cases they have been able to provide wonderful
accommodation. It has been a privilege to visit your farms and see how you are
true custodians of the earth. We will be visiting many of you again and look
forward to renewing our acquaintance. Despite some fairly difficult farm roads
so far we have only got stuck once, and were very grateful to see a farmer
arriving with some well designed towing equipment to pull us out. Thanks a
million for that!
Some pictures taken in the field trip.
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| African Monarch - Danaus chryssippus |
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| Common diadem - Hypolimnas misippus |
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| Karoo landscape |
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| Stuck in the mud |
