Just like sparrows in the cities, spotting butterflies is becoming increasingly rare every year, don't you think?
As usual, it's an unfortunate byproduct of human-related activities like global warming. That's right,?butterflies are going extinct?because of increasing climate change, as per a new study.
Representative Image: Pixabay
Scientists have discovered that many butterflies, sensing warmer temperatures, are emerging earlier than they're supposed to. This is causing their numbers to decline considerably.?
The study conducted by York University involved collecting data on butterflies and moths by citizen scientists over a 20-year period from 1995 to 2014, when Britain experienced an increase of 0.5 degrees in temperature on average during spring.
The study revealed that species which are known to have multiple and rapid breeding cycles every year with flexible habitat can be benefited, like Speckled Wood species which are able to spend more time in increasing their numbers before winter.
However, the early emergence of species that are specific to certain habitats, and are known to have only one life per cycle in a year would shrink in population and vanish from the northern parts of UK -- a place that they once inhabited.?
Species affected with this include the High Brown Fritillary butterfly which are the most vulnerable to climate change. Not only doesn't extra breeding time benefit them in any way, they also emerge early from their cocoon where they don't find food pertaining to their restricted diet and thus suffer.
PA
According to Dr Callum Macgregor from the Department of Biology at the York University, "Because butterflies in general are warmth loving, scientists predicted that the range margin of most species would move north as a result of global heating.'However this hasn't happened as widely or as quickly as expected for many species."
He further added, "Our study is the first to establish that there is a direct connection between changes in emergence date and impacts on the habitat range of butterflies and moths. This is because emerging earlier has caused some species to decline in abundance, and we know that species tend only to expand their range when they are doing well."