Catch the First Cabbage Butterfly of the New Year

Competition in science can be fun. To prove it, a UC Davis professor challenges the public every December to join his annual contest to find the first cabbage butterfly of the new year. For more than 20 years, the usual winner has been the challenger, Arthur M. Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology, but he may be out of town during the anticipated first flight days this year in mid-January. Gardeners know the small white butterfly as a pest of cultivated cabbages and other crops, but it usually breeds on wild plants of the mustard family. "Early spring specimens are most likely to be found in vacant lots and by roadsides where wild mustards grow, rather than in gardens," says Shapiro, who holds the contest to ensure the accuracy of his field data, which he says have important applications for pest management as well as theoretical issues in evolution and ecology. His collection of data on the life histories of 135 butterfly species is believed to be one of the most extensive in existence.