Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) Prairie population: report on the implementation of the recovery strategy 2008 to 2017

Official title: Report on the Implementation of the Recovery Strategy for the Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) Prairie Population in Canada (2008-2017)

This report provides an update on the work done with the prairie Mormon Metalmark butterfly from 2008-2017. These butterflies have been studied to answer questions about the way they act, their habitat and their numbers. It was found that these butterflies are in less trouble than we thought, but they still need our help.

Recommended Citation

Parks Canada Agency. 2018. Report on the Implementation of the Recovery Strategy for the Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) Prairie Population in Canada (2008-2017).

Introduction

The final Recovery Strategy for the Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) Prairie Population in Canada was posted on the Species at Risk Public Registry on January 14, 2008. The recovery strategy included a goal and objectives for this species, and a description of activities required to meet the goal and objectives. Under section 46 of the Species at Risk Act (SARA), the competent minister is responsible for reporting on the implementation of the recovery strategy and on the progress towards meeting its objectives five years after it is included on the registry and in every subsequent five-year period, until its objectives have been achieved or the species’ recovery is no longer feasible. This document reports on the implementation of the Recovery Strategy for the Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) Prairie Population in Canada from 2008 through 2017, and the progress towards meeting its goal and objectives.

Implementation of the Recovery Strategy and Progress towards Meeting its Objectives

The Recovery Strategy for the Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) Prairie Population in Canada identified the goal “to maintain suitable habitat and ecological linkages within the known range of the Prairie population of the Mormon Metalmark, which preserves the opportunity for natural processes to shape the population dynamics and the evolution of the species” and then identified a number of objectives and strategies associated with achieving this goal. Implementation of all performance measures needed to achieve the six recovery objectives have been completed fully or in part. The work that was undertaken to implement the Recovery Strategy objectives resulted in, among other things, the discovery of additional Mormon Metalmark colonies which led COSEWIC to recommend the down listing of the Mormon Metalmark butterflies from Threatened to Special Concern.

In 2008, there were only eight known Mormon Metalmark colonies for the prairie population and fewer than 50 geo-referenced butterfly observations. In an effort to assess and map all potential Mormon Metalmark habitat outside of the known range in 2008, surveys were conducted throughout suitable unsurveyed badland habitat in Grasslands National Park (GNP), Val Marie and Beaver Valley Agriculture and Agri-food (formerly Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration) community pastures, as well as private and provincial leased land adjacent to Grasslands National Park. These initial surveys contributed to a landscape scale predictive model which was used to guide subsequent surveys. This model greatly increased the ability to more accurately focus survey effort. As a result, within the Grasslands National Park area, there are 1,568 distinct geo-referenced Mormon Metalmark butterfly observations with over 150 colonies delineated (Illerbrun 2015).

The model was also used to inform a standardized monitoring protocol for Mormon Metalmark butterflies. This protocol was implemented annually up to and including 2014 to confirm population stability.

Recovery objectives also included mark and recapture population estimates which were determined for seven Mormon Metalmark colonies of varying sizes. This allows a rough estimate of population numbers based on colony size. Additionally, to refine habitat characteristics necessary for the butterflies, attributes of occupied habitat were compared to unoccupied habitat. Butterflies were found to occur in sites with a combination of the following variables: higher percent bare ground and soil pH, steeper slope, southerly to southwesterly aspect, lower elevation, and lower soil nitrogen.

All these data were used to delineate Mormon Metalmark critical habitat in the Multi-species Action Plan for Grasslands National Park of Canada (2016) and the Action Plan for Multiple Species at Risk in Southwestern Saskatchewan: South of the Divide (2017). The GNP action plan incorporated all species at risk in Grasslands National Park that required an action plan under section 49 of SARA in addition to other species of conservation concern. Together, these Action Plans resulted in a landscape scale conservation initiative that is beneficial to many prairie species. Expanding Mormon Metalmark surveys beyond badland areas could result in identifying even more occupied habitat.

Genetic work by Proshek et al. (2013) revealed that the Mormon Metalmark populations in Saskatchewan are not closely related to those in British Columbia (BC) and the Saskatchewan butterflies are much more genetically diverse. While the BC population is relatively isolated, in Saskatchewan there is gene flow with several other eastern populations in the United States.

Understanding Mormon Metalmark distribution and habitat requirements has helped guide management for activities occurring near Metalmark colonies. For example, a trail in Grasslands National Park was re-routed to avoid disturbing an active colony which was later designated as critical habitat.

Literature associated with Implementation of the Recovery Strategy

The following list presents a selection of reports and papers that have been completed during or resulted directly from the implementation of the Recovery Strategy for the Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) Prairie Population in Canada (2008-2017).

Anweiler, G. 2009. Surveys in Southern Alberta for Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) butterflies. Internal Parks Canada report.

Environment and Climate Change Canada. 2016. Action Plan for Multiple Species at Risk in Southwestern Saskatchewan: South of the Divide. Species at Risk Act Action Plan Series. Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa. xi + 127 pp.

Henderson, A.P. 2008. Monitoring Mormon Metalmark, Apodemia mormo, in Grasslands National Park 2008. Unpublished report for Parks Canada. 10 pp.

Henderson, A., P. Fargey, S. Pruss and F. Sperling. 2008. Early sighting of a rare butterfly, Mormon Metalmark, in Grasslands National Park, SK. Blue Jay 66:105-106.

Illubrun, K., and A. Wick. 2014. Predictive habitat model validation for the Mormon Metalmark butterfly in Grasslands National Park, SK. Preliminary report, including newly documented populations for 2013. Unpublished report for Parks Canada. 26 pp.

Illerbrun, K. 2015. The Mormon Metalmark butterfly, Apodemia mormo, in Grasslands National Park, SK. Summary of recent research, including all known populations. Unpublished report for Parks Canada. 70 pp.

Parks Canada Agency. 2016. Multi-species Action Plan for Grasslands National Park of Canada. Species at Risk Act Action Plan Series. Parks Canada Agency, Ottawa. iv + 57 pp.

Peterson, K., E. Amosa, S. Pruss, and N. Erbilgin. 2010. First caterpillar observations of the Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae) butterfly in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan, Canada. Blue Jay 68: 37-40.

Proshek, B., L.A. Crawford, C.S. Davis, S. Desjardins, A.E. Henderson, and F.A.H. Sperling. 2013. Apodemia mormo in Canada: population genetic data support prior conservation ranking. J. Insect. Conserv. 17:155-170.

Wick, A.A., J. Janelle, S. Pruss, and N. Erbilgin. 2012. First observations of Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) oviposition behaviour in Canada. Canadian Field-Naturalist 126(1): 34–37.

Wick, A.A. 2013. Beyond the host plant: Multi-scale habitat models for a northern peripheral population of the butterfly, Apodemia mormo (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae). MSc. Thesis, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB. 90 pp.

Wick, A., S. Pruss, J. Spence, N. Erbilgin. 2014. Microhabitat Use in a Northern Peripheral Population of Apodemia mormo: Factors Beyond the Host Plant. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 68(1): 54–60.