Compassion For The Uncharismatic Microfauna

Monarch nectaring on Salvia azurea - Apalachicola National Forest

A diminutive dusted skipper on Spanish needles (Bidens alba)
The conservation movement is largely fueled by the species known as "charismatic megafauna" - the elephants, lions, giraffes and the like that we can identify with somehow. It is not so much fueled by an equal love and tenderness towards the innocuous and the drab; definitely not by the ugly. As a species, we humans have a very serious problem putting human characteristics to nonhuman life and taking on emotion for some species at the expense of others. That wouldn't be so bad in a world where our actions had little to no impact on the rest of the earth's life forms, but it has serious consequences as our world population hurtles towards 10 billion and there is hardly a corner left where our impact is not being felt.
As I watched monarchs yesterday in my backyard lay eggs on the milkweeds I've planted for them, I wondered if monarchs really were any more endangered in this new world of ours than any other of the hundreds of species native to Florida. The news is rife with the plight of the monarch. They are one of the charismatic megafauna of the butterfly world. They are large and attractive. They have an interesting life history. Even their chrysalides are flecked in gold. If ever there was a poster species for the conservation of "bugs", it would be the monarch.
To be truthful, I love watching the monarchs that now share my yard, but I get just as excited to document other species - and it's the other species I worry most about because I see monarchs nearly everywhere I go in Florida and I know a great many dozens of well-meaning gardeners that are planting milkweeds for them, but I don't know anyone who is documenting the status of skipper butterflies like the dusted skipper and I don't know anyone who is purposely planting their host plants in order to "save" them.
The relentless march of urbanization that is gobbling up Florida like a pig at a trough is consuming the habitat of EVERY living creature that has some semblance of habitat specificity - and all butterflies are in the mold. Most rely on one or just a very few host plants to raise their young and these are native plants rarely used in developed landscapes except by the most dedicated butterfly gardeners. We plant milkweeds for monarchs, but we rarely replace the host plants lost by development to the uncharismatic species.
I have tried very hard here in my new landscape to include as many species as possible to my table. I don't have the proper growing conditions for some nor am I in the right general habitat region for others, but I have thought seriously about the tiny creatures as well as the larger ones. If we are to have an impact for the positive, we need to shed this obsession for the big and beautiful and simply agree that all life is beautiful in its own right and worthy of our conservation efforts.

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