A remarkable thing

Paul Catling is one of those folks with the rare ability to transform the ordinary, to reveal the extraordinary—to cast something we see every day into something startling, something profound.

How, for example, does a caterpillar become a butterfly? These creatures appear, in almost every way, to be different beasts. And save for their DNA, they are mostly different beasts. If you opened the abdomen of a caterpillar—you would not find a butterfly neatly tucked inside, waiting to get out. Yet one begets the other—every day, all around us.

During the pupal or chrysalis stage of the butterfly’s life cycle, the eyes, mouth, digestive and nervous systems of the caterpillar are erased, or more precisely, digested. While in the cocoon, DNA switches are triggered, creating imaginal cells that will grow to become wings, antennae and eyes.

From this soup of cells contained in the chrysalis, a collection of parts becomes a single organism—a butterfly.

Consider just the eyes. Eyes are complex systems—receiving light and transforming it into shapes, colours and depth inside a different brain than the one that existed in the caterpillar. Caterpillar eyes are rudimentary—simple photoreceptors that enable the caterpillar to tell light from dark, but unable to form an image. From a cluster of imaginal cells within the cocoon, butterfly eyes form and take shape. When the transformation is complete, the butterfly’s eye will comprise as many as 17,000 photoreceptors, each with their own lens. These sophisticated receptors work in unison to give the butterfly a mosaic of the world around them. Without them they would be gobbled up seconds after they left the cocoon.

How on earth did these beasts evolve this way? Butterfly metamorphosis remains a beguiling and compelling mystery—a mystery whose explanation becomes more elusive with closer examination.

Catling has just released A Field Guide to Butterflies of PrinceEdwardCounty and the surrounding region. It is an unusual book that looks at the 80 butterfly species that may be found here. (See story page 12) The work is testament, also, to the high regard Catling holds for the natural habitat in the County and the folks who seek to protect it. All proceeds from the book will go to the Prince Edward County Field Naturalists.

Catling impressed everyone who listened to his evidence, presented at the Environmental Review Tribunal in Demorestville last spring. Catling described the rare alvar habitat at Ostrander Point, observing that the construction of industrial wind turbine project on the site would cause serious and irreversible harm to the flora and fauna on this sensitive landscape.

While some see little value in the thin soil at Ostrander Point, Catling sees a rare landscape shaped over millennia and host to a diverse array of birds, plants and acquatic life. Some estimates suggest as much as 90 per cent of the Great Lakes alvar has already been destroyed or degraded by human use.

Catling knows what is at stake.

He, the Prince Edward County Field Naturalists and other individuals and organizations are among the last line of defence to protect this region and the complex biological systems that depend on this rare alvar.

Governmental protectors, including the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources, however, have been subverted by dictates of the Green Energy Act. They have been ordered to stand down and indeed employ the province’s vast resources to do battle against environmentalists, naturalists and scientists who disagree with its change in priorities.

There is no dispute about the threats posed by 500- foot turbines, mounted on platforms comprised of about a thousand tons of concrete and up to 50 feet in diameter, serviced by an invasive road system snaking through the landscape.

Yet so great is the desire to produce wind powered electricity, despite its well-documented failings and inadequacy to make a meaningful contribution to the province’s need, that the provincial government is willing to forego basic principles of conservation and protection of the natural environment to make it happen.

When governments sabotage such important principles— discarding other collective values comes more easily. That is when they become dangerous—enemies of the people.

Catling, PECFN and the other valiant combatants are on the front lines battling to protect and preserve the south shore of PrinceEdwardCounty. They need our help. They need us to become aware of the threat posed by a dangerous government.

To do this, Catling urges a reconnection with the natural world. There is no better way to begin than with his new book—available at Books & Company and online at saveostranderpoint.org.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca