Garden Moths Count 2009: Public search for Darwin's moth
For this year’s Garden Moths Count
(20-28 June 2009),
Butterfly Conservation is seeking the help of the public, gardeners
and their families to become citizen scientists for a night or two
in the search for Darwin’s moth; the Peppered Moth Biston
betularia.
The Peppered Moth is one of the world’s best-known examples of
evolution by natural selection, Darwin’s great discovery, and all
the action happened (and continues to this day) here in Britain. In
heavily-polluted cities the normal, pale, speckled forms of the
Peppered Moth were no longer camouflaged from predators on the
soot-blackened trees. Black (called “melanic”) versions of the
Peppered Moth thrived in these situations and the normal form
became quite rare. In recent decades, as pollution has been greatly
reduced, the balance swung back the other way.
Now black moths are more obvious on the lichen-encrusted tree
trunks and so the speckled Peppered Moths have again come to
dominate populations. But all is not well with Darwin’s moth.
Despite its amazing ability to survive the worst of the industrial
revolution, numbers of Peppered Moths in Britain have fallen by 61%
since the late 1960s. It is not clear what is causing this decline
but we need the public’s help to find out more. Does the Peppered
Moth still live in your garden? If so, are they speckled or
black?
In contrast, the beautiful Scarlet Tiger moth, which flies in
the daytime, seems to be doing well. We think that is it spreading
from its traditional strongholds in South-west England and South
Wales, probably in response to climate change. However, we do not
know how far the species has got. Is it in your garden?
Garden Moths Count is an exciting nationwide online survey and
anyone can take part, young or old, without needing to be experts
or have special equipment. In addition to the Peppered Moth and
Scarlet Tiger, there are 18 other moths to look out for, all easily
recognized and some that can be seen during the day. It takes place
from 20-28 June 2009 at www.mothscount.org