Webinar Date: June 30, 2026
Speakers: Dr. Sonia Altizer, Head, Department of Entomology, University of Georgia; Jeremy Rhoden, Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator, UF/IFAS Extension, Marion County, FL — Florida State Coordinator, Great Southeast Pollinator Census
Duration: 1:29:24
Series: Great Southeast Pollinator Course
Credit at a Glance
| Educator PLU | 1 PLU for educators who attended the live session. |
| Applicator CEU | None. This session carries no Georgia pesticide applicator CEU categories. |
| Archive viewing | The recording is for education and census preparation. PLU credit was tied to live attendance and does not transfer to asynchronous viewing. |
This is a Great Southeast Pollinator Course session for home gardeners, school and community gardens, growers, county agents, and census volunteers — not a licensed-applicator program. Frame it accordingly when you share it.
Who This Is For
Use this session with anyone preparing for the Great Southeast Pollinator Census (August 21–22, 2026) or building a butterfly garden. It works as a standalone primer on butterfly biology and identification, and as a practical planting guide for habitat. Master Gardener groups, school garden coordinators, and county pollinator volunteers are the natural audiences.
What the Session Covers
Dr. Sonia Altizer (Head, UGA Entomology) takes the first 30 minutes on butterfly diversity and biology. She frames butterflies as environmental indicators and conservation ambassadors, sets the scale of diversity (over 150,000 Lepidoptera worldwide, ~20,000 butterflies, ~700 in North America, ~200 in the Southeast), and explains how wings make color through pterin and ommochrome pigments, melanin, and structural iridescence. She walks the five families a beginner should learn — swallowtails (Papilionidae), whites and sulfurs (Pieridae), gossamer-wings (Lycaenidae), skippers (Hesperiidae), and brush-foots (Nymphalidae) — then covers host-plant specialization, the spicebush–pipevine–black swallowtail mimicry complex, the milkweed cardenolides that make monarchs toxic, and the lycaenid caterpillar–ant partnerships. She points identifiers to BAMONA (butterfliesandmoths.org) and the Seek app.
Jeremy Rhoden’s second half turns biology into garden practice around four habitat resources — host plants, nectar plants, shelter and overwintering, and water and minerals. He frames the work through the generalist-versus-specialist split (about 90% of the Southeast’s plant-feeding insects are specialists), tells gardeners to expect larval feeding since many host plants tolerate 90 to 95% defoliation, and reminds them that “trees host the most” — Florida live oaks support 330-plus Lepidoptera species. He covers the Xerces native-plant finder, nectar traits butterflies prefer, a 75%-native target, puddling, “leave the leaves,” and why rearing-and-release is now discouraged, closing on the census.
Viewing Notes for Asynchronous Use
- Total runtime is 1:29:24. The natural split is the presenter handoff at 33:02 — Altizer’s diversity/biology half before, Rhoden’s habitat-gardening half after.
- For census prep and getting started, the census pitch at 1:08:42 (Join the Great Southeast Pollinator Census) pairs with Altizer’s butterfly-vs-moth and five-families segments (15:26–20:53) for a quick identification foundation.
- For a home-gardener / habitat audience, Rhoden’s block from 34:16 (Four Habitat Resources) through 1:06:00 (Building a Butterfly Landscape) is a self-contained planting guide.
- The Q&A runs from 1:11:15 to the end and holds the highest-value conservation exchanges — declines, monarch migration, and the rearing-and-release question. Full chapter list is in the website archive version for this session.
Pull These for Discussion
- “Trees host the most”: Florida live oaks support 330-plus Lepidoptera species — a strong argument for keeping native trees, not just flower beds.
- Feeding damage is the point: many host plants tolerate 90 to 95% defoliation and recover. Gardeners who panic at chewed milkweed need to hear this.
- The 75%-native target: make natives the dominant planting; non-native nectar magnets like mimosa can pull pollinators off natives.
- Rearing-and-release is discouraged: raising a handful for education is fine; releasing hundreds or mailing monarchs to Texas can spread disease and doesn’t help wild survival. Expect questions on this one.
- The decline figures: “for every five butterflies 20 years ago, only four remain today,” and Xerces’ 22% of U.S. species lost between 2000 and 2020.
Resources to Share
- Great Southeast Pollinator Census — August 21–22, 2026.
- BAMONA — butterfliesandmoths.org (photo-based species ID; top 20 butterflies by state).
- Seek app / iNaturalist — photo identification for insects, plants, and caterpillars.
- Xerces Society native-plant finder — xerces.org (search by state; bloom time, larval-host, and pet-safe indicators).
- State pollinator programs: Florida Pollinator Ambassador program (email Jeremy Rhoden to join the interest list), Georgia Pollinator Stewards and Alabama Pollinator Partners (contact your local Extension office).
Processed for UGA Center for Urban Agriculture / Great Southeast Pollinator Course Archives
Source: Stage 2 Archive Package — GTBOP_Archive_Summary_2026-06-30_Butterflies.md