Alison Gordon

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Saarinen, Emily

Area of Concentration

Biology

Abstract

The Swamp Metalmark (Calephelis muticum) is a small North American butterfly (Riodinidae: Lepidoptera). It resides solely in calciferous fens, a wetland found only in the glaciated Midwest. Environmental processes, like succession, coupled with nearby anthropogenic change have fragmented these fens into small, isolated patches. This habitat loss has resulted in small, isolated populations throughout the range. These small populations are much more vulnerable to disease and are less likely to recover after a significant population decline. In this thesis, I evaluated two populations of C. muticum;one at the Riveredge Nature Center (Saukville, WI) and one along Boone Creek Road (Boone Township, IN). I tested them for the presence of Wolbachia , a bacteria that can have negative population-level consequences. To confirm that populations were infected with the same strain of Wolbachia , I sequenced four Wolbachia-specific genes; ftsZ, gatB, coxA, and hcpA. This testing was done to determine if butterflies could potentially be translocated from the larger Boone Creek population to the declining Riveredge population without the threat of mixing bacterial strains (which can have negative consequences). Analyzing the sequences of the strain specific genes resulted in near-perfect identity match. While these data are very preliminary, they suggest the possibility for translocation for the purpose of rescuing a declining population, however much more testing needs to be done before conservation action can be taken.

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