Global warming and resulting climate change will be harsh on butterflies as well with drought-sensitive butterfly species being the worst hit, a new study has claimed. But populations in dry areas, particularly in southeast England, may disappear, Dr. Oliver said.
Advertisement
Through the research, it was discovered the number of butterflies that are dying can be significantly decreased by the creation of a fabricated greenhouse environment in which the right temperatures and gas emissions are ever present for the butterflies health.
Cutting the greenhouse gas emissions along with better management of our lands – in particular making efforts to restore connections between habitats, which have become fragmented by activities carried out by humans – could make a marked difference in preventing the extinctions of these butterflies. They also argue that if humanity manages to reduce this extreme warming conditions, changes on butterfly habitats could definitely diminish impacts. “It’s likely other species besides butterflies will be affected by drought”.
Continuing climate change caused by carbon emissions from power stations and vehicles is set to have catastrophic consequences for British butterflies including now widespread species such as the cabbage white and large skipper.
“Until I started this research, I hadn’t quite realized the magnitude and potential impacts from climate change“, Tom Oliver, an ecological modeler at Britain’s Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the study’s lead author said.
“There is strong evidence that climate change will have increasingly large impacts on biodiversity”.
The only methods by which the chances of survival of these species can be increased are by protecting wilderness areas and reducing fragmentation of natural habitats combined with a two degree Celsius cap on global warming.
Scientists analyzed data regarding around 30 species of butterflies living in over 120 places. In fact, a combination of both is necessary”, ” the researchers wrote.
“They can be a canary in a coal mine, if you will”, said Oliver, who fears that his discovery of one-fifth of butterflies suffering may be translated across other species like bees, beetles and earthworms. In studying 28 species of butterflies and how they reacted to the UK’s extreme drought in 1995, the driest summer on record since 1776, the team found the only ones to show dramatic declines were the six species named. “Should this occur repeatedly, populations may be unable to recover, resulting in local extinctions”.
They are concerned that, because of landscape changes in the UK throughout the 20th century, populations of some of the threatened species might be too low for them to recover from frequent droughts.
Advertisement
Climate change may have a widespread effect on butterfly populations in Britain if conservationists don’t act soon.
