![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/06\/Crystal-skipper-and-dune.png\")
As far as we know, crystal skippers exclusively live on just a few North Carolina islands, including Bogue Banks, human-made Radio Island to the east, and Bear Island to the west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Globally rare but locally abundant, the crystal skipper is a state mascot of sorts. \u201cThere\u2019s something a little magical about a little brown butterfly that flits around the dunes,\u201d says Carol Price, conservation research coordinator for the North Carolina Aquariums. \u201cThis is a real North Carolina treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crystal skippers rely on dune vegetation that grows in the swales between beach-fronting sea oats and deeper-set scrub thickets. Adult butterflies sip nectar from various native flowers, such as southern dewberry and species of morning glory. But crystal skipper caterpillars have a more restricted diet: They feed solely on a native grass called seaside little bluestem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The butterfly \u201cpersists in one of the starkest, harshest environments in our coastal ecosystems,\u201d Price says. \u201cIt is really a tough place for a butterfly to make a living. And it is not just associated with that habitat \u2014 it\u2019s dependent on that habitat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the past several decades, urbanization along Bogue Banks has fragmented and degraded habitat where seaside little bluestem thrives. Virginia Williams, who briefly lived in Pine Knoll Shores with her family before they moved to Morehead City in the 1980s, has seen the changes firsthand: \u201cIt\u2019s developed incredibly in the last 30 years,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite her long ties to the area, she first learned about the crystal skipper last year, when she met Gloria Putnam, coastal resources and communities specialist for North Carolina Sea Grant. Putnam, Price, and colleagues were in the process of revegetating areas important to crystal skippers; the Williams dune was a prime site for replanting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dune enhancement project is integral to a larger, multi-partner effort to better understand and preserve the butterfly \u2014 not just for the insect\u2019s sake, but for its ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen it comes to barrier island dunes, we talk about maritime forests and sea oats, but the narrow strip of land in between gets overlooked,\u201d Putnam says. \u201cFor me, the crystal skipper can be the ambassador for this important stretch of habitat, helping to capture people\u2019s attention and interest in preserving it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Science first brushed with the crystal skipper in 1978, when entomologist Eric Quinter, of the American Museum of Natural History, netted a couple specimens during an expedition along coastal North Carolina. He later passed them on to a Smithsonian entomologist and skipper expert named John Burns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burns \u201cimmediately recognized the Atlantic Beach specimens as something different,\u201d Michigan State University conservation ecologist Nick Haddad writes in his book, The Last Butterflies: A Scientist\u2019s Quest to Save a Rare and Vanishing Creature<\/em>. Eventually Burns assembled enough convincing evidence to call the insect a new species, publishing his case in the Journal of the Lepidopterists\u2019 Society<\/em> in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Research conducted in the mid-2000s by NC State University doctoral student Allison Leidner contributed critical insight into what we know about crystal skippers. With funding from North Carolina Sea Grant, Leidner used field and lab techniques to investigate butterfly movement and genetics, with an eye toward addressing their conservation status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe put crystal skipper on the map,\u201d says Haddad, who was Leidner\u2019s thesis advisor at NC State at the time. Leidner even coined the butterfly\u2019s moniker, drawing inspiration from Bogue Banks\u2019s tourist-friendly nickname \u2014 Crystal Coast \u2014 and from the insect\u2019s sugary white wing spots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crystal skippers primarily live along a 30- mile stretch from Fort Macon State Park, located on the eastern edge of Bogue Banks, to isolated Bear Island, part of Hammocks Beach State Park. Those two protected areas are species strongholds, offering large tracts of prime habitat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In contrast, the quality of the intervening habitat has deteriorated or disappeared, primarily from development, though other big threats include beach nourishment, insecticides, invasive species, major storms and storm surge, and climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But crystal skippers have proven to be remarkably adaptive to their changing environment. Indeed, Leidner found that the butterflies exploit patches of suitable habitat amid development, in effect hopscotching over human-disturbed areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leidner also learned that some natural features can inhibit butterfly dispersal, a finding supported by genetic analysis. Crystal skippers appear to exist in three distinct populations she says. Two inhabit Bogue Banks, divided by maritime forest. An inlet separates the third population on Bear Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, her findings suggested that \u201cnatural features, like ocean and maritime forests, were probably greater barriers to butterfly movement than development,\u201d Leidner says. She cautions, however, that unabated urbanization could change the stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom my research, we really saw that habitat connectivity is important. But probably what\u2019s even more important is just the amount of land available to the butterfly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Bogue Banks, \u201cdevelopment is extensive and progressing,\u201d Haddad writes in his book. \u201cThe only way to increase the butterfly\u2019s global population here is to engage people in low-cost conservation and restoration, especially on the dunes in front of their beach houses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That approach resonates with Sea Grant\u2019s Putnam and the N.C. Aquariums\u2019 Price, who have been leading a project to revegetate sites along Bogue Banks with seaside little bluestem and nectar plants as part of the Coastal Landscapes Initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four locations were chosen in part based on vegetation surveys done several years ago by NC State student Ian Grace. The new planting builds on dune enhancement efforts completed just before Hurricane Florence relentlessly drenched the state in September 2018. \u201cWe saw that there was a loss of plant material following Hurricane Florence,\u201d Price says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For expertise, Putnam turned to the North Carolina Botanical Garden at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Known for its native plant conservation efforts, the garden oversaw an effort to gather seeds from seaside little bluestem and nectar plants growing at Fort Macon State Park. Then garden staff propagated the seeds into plugs for planting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gathering seeds from known crystal skipper habitat was key, says N.C. Botanical Garden conservation ecologist Mike Kunz. \u201cWe want to use local plants because they are adapted to, and have coevolved with, the local ecosystem and all of its parts,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, the bloom time of a nectar plant collected far outside of the skipper\u2019s range might not jibe with the butterfly\u2019s natural cycles. Given that adult skippers only appear twice a year \u2014 one brood emerges from April to mid-May, and a second from mid-July to late August \u2014 synchrony is essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Genetic diversity is, too. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to just go collect a whole bunch of seeds from a couple of seaside little bluestem plants right on the side of the parking lot,\u201d Kunz says. \u201cWe want to make sure we cover a whole range of \u2018micro habitats,\u2019 right? So, tops of the dunes, down the sides, in the lower areas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n All told, the team installed 1,500 seaside little bluestem and 500 nectar plants over two planting sessions, which took place in October 2020 and this past March. \u201cThe cooperation and collaboration on this have been a lot of fun to be involved with and really cool to see,\u201d Kunz says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For her part, Leidner, who now works in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration\u2019s Earth Science Division, is pleased to hear about the efforts. \u201cWhen we look at conservation, we need to look holistically,\u201d she says. Revegetating crystal skipper habitat supports a host of other organisms within that ecosystem \u2014 including humans who benefit from the storm buffer that healthy dunes provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think we have a responsibility to protect and steward these areas,\u201d Leidner adds. \u201cThis is a butterfly\u2019s home; this is also your home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that she\u2019s aware of the crystal skipper, Virginia Williams keeps an eye out for the lively specks. \u201cI\u2019m very excited to have them in the backyard,\u201d she says. \u201cIf I knew where to get seaside little bluestem, I\u2019d plant some more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The grass is hard to find in retail outlets, but Putnam is making inroads. She recently connected the N.C. Botanical Garden with master gardener Karen Mulcahy, who operates a native plant nursery called Above the Briery from her home north of Kinston. \u201cTrying to enhance and restore environments is really appealing to me,\u201d Mulcahy says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The garden shipped her a package containing seaside little bluestem and various nectar plant seeds, along with propagation instructions. If her experiment goes well, Mulcahy plans to sell her native beauties at coastal farmers markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the crystal skipper team, conservation doesn\u2019t stop with planting. Since May, Price has been overseeing two NC State students as they conduct butterfly and vegetation surveys funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The purpose is twofold: to gauge crystal skipper abundance, and to get a better picture of which nectar plants adult butterflies use. Price hopes the experience will inspire more environmental stewardship. \u201cI think there\u2019s value in using this as a way to teach the young conservationists of the future,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is what it takes, this is what it looks like, when you\u2019re trying to save a species.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Retail nurseries in North Carolina may request seaside little bluestem and nectar plant seeds from Emma York Marzolf, conservation grower at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, by emailing eyork@unc.edu<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Coastal Landscapes Initiative is a multi-partner effort to address landscaping at every stage of the process, from planning and design to installation and management. The group has published a variety of digital and print resources, including a handy native plant guide, an interactive map of model gardens, and design templates for home gardeners and landscapers alike. Find them all at go.ncsu.edu\/CoastalLandscapes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n![\"Crystal](\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/06\/Crystal-skipper-habitat.png\")
What\u2019s in a Name?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Crystal](\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/06\/Crystal-Skipper-life-cycle_by-Georgia-Minnich.jpg\")
Location, Location, Location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/06\/Seaside-little-bluestem-seeds-and-plugs.png\")
![\"Volunteer](\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/06\/Georgia-planting_by-Gloria-Putnam_web-scaled.jpg\")
Seeds of Change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/06\/Common-Toadflax-Linaria-canadensis_Photo-by-Sam-Bland.jpg\")
Designing with Nature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n