Butterflies are rapidly fluttering out of existence from coast to coast, according to a new assessment published Thursday, at a rate that scientists worry could upend ecosystems and undercut pollination that sustains America’s crops.
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The total number of butterflies in the contiguous United States has declined 22 percent over a 20-year period, according to a study in the journal Science, as shrinking habitat, rising temperatures and a toxic array of pesticides kill off the delicate insects.
The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, is the most comprehensive tally of U.S. butterfly populations to date.
Nick Haddad, a Michigan State University ecologist who co-wrote the study, said he once had a hard time believing his neighbors when they told him they see fewer butterflies than in the past.
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“In my mind, I was nodding, thinking, ‘Oh, they just went out on a bad day,’” he said. But now, the data has him convinced.
“Butterflies are vanishing from the face of the earth,” he added.
The crisis for butterflies is part of a troubling downturn in the number of bumblebees, fireflies and other insects that has been observed in Europe, the Caribbean and other places worldwide. It could signal a potential “bugpocalypse” that scientists are fiercely debating — a shift that may spell trouble for both nature and society.
The loss of insects — “the little things that run the world,” as naturalist E.O. Wilson once put it — has dire implications for ecosystems in which birds and mammals rely on them for food and plants depend on them for pollination. Farmers and gardeners, meanwhile, may be losing allies that act as pollinators and natural pest control.
David Wagner, a University of Connecticut entomologist not involved in the study, said butterflies act as a “yardstick for measuring what is happening” among insects broadly. He called the new findings “catastrophic and saddening.”
“The study is a much-needed, Herculean assessment,” he wrote in an email. “The tree of life is being denuded at unprecedented rates. I find it deeply disheartening. We can and must do better.”
Ask your climate questions. With the help of generative Al, we'll try to deliver answers based on our published reporting.
The total number of butterflies in the contiguous United States has declined 22 percent over a 20-year period, according to a study in the journal Science, as shrinking habitat, rising temperatures and a toxic array of pesticides kill off the delicate insects.
The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, is the most comprehensive tally of U.S. butterfly populations to date.
Nick Haddad, a Michigan State University ecologist who co-wrote the study, said he once had a hard time believing his neighbors when they told him they see fewer butterflies than in the past.
🌱
Follow Climate & environment
“In my mind, I was nodding, thinking, ‘Oh, they just went out on a bad day,’” he said. But now, the data has him convinced.
“Butterflies are vanishing from the face of the earth,” he added.
The crisis for butterflies is part of a troubling downturn in the number of bumblebees, fireflies and other insects that has been observed in Europe, the Caribbean and other places worldwide. It could signal a potential “bugpocalypse” that scientists are fiercely debating — a shift that may spell trouble for both nature and society.
The loss of insects — “the little things that run the world,” as naturalist E.O. Wilson once put it — has dire implications for ecosystems in which birds and mammals rely on them for food and plants depend on them for pollination. Farmers and gardeners, meanwhile, may be losing allies that act as pollinators and natural pest control.
David Wagner, a University of Connecticut entomologist not involved in the study, said butterflies act as a “yardstick for measuring what is happening” among insects broadly. He called the new findings “catastrophic and saddening.”
“The study is a much-needed, Herculean assessment,” he wrote in an email. “The tree of life is being denuded at unprecedented rates. I find it deeply disheartening. We can and must do better.”
