Drought-Sensitive Butterflies Could Be Extinct by 2050
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Climate change may have a widespread effect on butterfly populations in Britain if conservationists don’t act soon. A new study warns that a continuing rise in global temperatures could cause permanent damage.
“…widespread drought-sensitive butterfly population extinctions could occur as early as 2050,” scientists reported in the journal Nature Climate Change, as reported by Christian Science Monitor on Tuesday.
The study found that butterfly species that are especially sensitive to drought are most likely to experience a sharp population decrease during dry spells. And, as the Earth warms, these species are more likely to go extinct due to climate change. According to NASA, the average global temperature on Earth has increased by 0.8 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1880. Two-thirds of the warming has occurred since 1975.
Scientists led by Tom Oliver of the NERC Center of Ecology and Hydrology in Britain examined data from 129 sites to see how 28 species responded to a severe drought in 1995. The results? Crushing population depletion.
The study looked at six different British butterfly species and found that the species hardest hit were the Pieris brassicae with a 60% population collapse and the Peiris rapae at 56% depleted. Scientists believe the data is a result of both climate change and extreme weather events spurred by these changes:
“There is strong evidence that climate change will have increasingly large impacts on biodiversity. This is especially so from increases in the frequency of extreme events, although the impacts of these have been less studied than responses to gradual change in climatological means. Species responses to climate can be highly nonlinear, with threshold effects of extreme weather events, and in particular droughts, causing population collapse.”
In a critical finding, the researchers discovered a direct link between landscape and recovery: the more fragmented the habitat, the longer it took for populations to revive.
“Conservationists increasingly recognize the importance of reducing fragmentation of natural habitats rather than simply managing protected ‘islands’ in a hostile landscape of intensive farming,” Mr. Oliver told by email.
Scientists say there are ways to stem the tide. If people use land efficiently they can maximize conservation benefits with minimum impact on other land uses such as food and energy production. However, to ensure survival of drought-sensitive species through the entire twenty-first century, a combination of major emissions reductions along with significant reductions in habitat fragmentations is required.