Feasibility study: Reintroduction of the bay checkerspot butterfly to Stanford University lands

Researchers are conducting a broad feasibility study concerning the re-introduction of the Bay checkerspot butterfly to Stanford lands. This butterfly sub-species is federally listed as a threatened species and is restricted to serpentine soils, since the plants that it depends on cannot survive competition with Eurasian grasses on other soil types. The butterfly was the subject of extensive long-term studies at Jasper Ridge by Paul Ehrlich and his group from 1960 to the late 1990s, when it became extinct on the Ridge. The feasibility study is exploring options for the re-introduction.