A new study found that American butterflies disappear due to pesticides, climate change and habitat loss, with the number of winged camels decreased by 22 % since 2000.
The first systematic analysis in the country found that the butterfly in the number of butterflies in 48 states decreased on average by 1.3 % per year since the end of the century, as 114 species showed a significant decrease and only nine, according to a study conducted by a study on Thursday.
“The butterflies have decreased over the past twenty years,” said Nick Haddad, co -author of the study, an insect scientist at Michigan State University. “We do not see any sign of ending.”
A team of scientists merged 76,957 surveys of 35 programs to monitor and mix them into a comparison of apples from apples and ended up to an account of 12.6 million butterfly over the decades. Last month, an annual survey only searches for the butterflies of the monarch, to which Federal officials are planning Put on the list of threatened speciesCalculate Almost From less than 10,000, a decrease from 1.2 million in 1997.
Many species decreased in decrease by 40 % or more.
A “catastrophic and sad” loss over time
White cabbage of cabbage in Likwood, Colorado on June 27, 2023.
David Wagner, an insect scientist at the University of Connecticut, who was not part of the study, praised its scope. He said that although the annual rate of decline may not seem important, it is “disastrous and sad” when it exacerbates the passage of time.
“In just 30 or 40 years, we are talking about the loss of half of the butterflies (and other insect life) on a continent!” Wagner said in an email. “The tree of life is exposed to unprecedented rates.”
The lead author of the study, Collin Edwards, an environment scientist at the Ministry of Fish and Wildlife in Washington, said that the United States has 650 species of butterfly, but 96 species were very consistent and did not appear in the data and no other species were found in sufficient number of trends.
“I will be more worried about the incomplete species in analyzes” because it was very rare, “said Karen Oberhauser, the world of the University of Wisconsin Madison, who was not part of the research.
Haddad, a specialist in rare butterfly, said in recent years that he only saw two St. Francis’ butterflies – That lives only on a bomb in Fort Prague, North Carolina – “So it can be extinct.”
Some known species were large drops. Edwards said that the Red Admiral, which largely calms down to people, has decreased by 44 %, and Edwards decreased by 58 %.
Even the gaseous white cabbage butterfly, “a kind of well -adapted to the invasion of the world,” according to Haddad by 50 %.
“How can it be?” Haddad asked.
The butterfly retreated as a warning sign for humans
The butterfly expert at the University of Cornell Anurag Agrouwal said it is more concern than the future of different types: humans.
“Loss of butterflies, parrots and pigs undoubtedly is a bad sign for us, the ecosystems that we need and the nature we enjoy,” said Agrouwal, who was not part of the study, in an email. “They tell us that the health of our continent does not wear well … butterflies are an ambassador for the beauty of nature and the fragility of species. They have something to teach us.”
Oberhauser said that butterflies link people to nature and “calm us down, make us more healthier and happier and enhance learning.”
Wagner said that what is happening for the butterflies in the United States may occur to other insects with the least -grade throughout the continent and the world. He said this is the study of the most comprehensive butterfly, but it is the most rich in data for any insect.
Haddad said that the butterflies are also erased, although not prominent like bees, and it is a major source of vaccination of the cotton crop.
The butterfly of a lady overlooking the flowers of apple flowers in Glings, California on March 13, 2019.
The most dry spaces and the slope of butterflies are butterflies
The largest butterfly decreased in the southwest – Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Akllahoma – were the largest butterflies in more than half in twenty years.
Edwards said: “It seems that the butterflies in the dry and warm areas are especially badly.” “This type of picking a lot from the southwest.”
Edwards said when they looked at the butterfly that lived in the hottest south and the hottest north, it was those that achieved better in the cooler areas.
ClimateEdwards and Haddad said that the loss of habitats and pesticides tends to work together to weaken butterfly groups. Of the three, pesticides seem to be the biggest cause, based on previous research from the American Middle West.
Haddad said: “This is logical because the use of pesticides has changed in exciting ways at a time when our study started,” Haddad said.
Haddad said that habitats can be restored, and so on butterflies, so there is hope.
“You can make Changes in your backyard In your region and in your state. ”This situation can really improve for many types.”
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account on Cnn.com
