Passion for Butterflies Becomes A Study in Climate Change Impact Ayesha Monga Kravetz , National Science Foundation Date: 03 August 2012
Art Shapiro examines the cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae), the first of 2012 in the three‐county area of Sacramento, Yolo and Solano. He netted it in West Sacramento, Yolo County to win his annual beer‐ for‐a‐butterfly contest. CREDIT: Kathy Keatley Garvey
This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Arthur Shapiro has been collecting butterfly data for more than 40 years, and despite the high altitudes, rigorous walks and often uncooperative weather, he’s still going strong, exploring mountains across central California, pen and notebook in hand. A distinguished professor and scientist, his interest in nature and butterflies was sparked in his childhood. Due to an unpleasant family environment, as a child, Shapiro often escaped to the woods and fields close to his home in Philadelphia. There, he developed a passion for phenology—the study of periodic animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by variations in the fauna. Shapiro excelled in school and received a scholarship to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a B.A. in Biology. Soon after completing his Ph.D. in Entomology from Cornell University, Shapiro taught ecology and field biology at Richmond College of the City University of New York.
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