Butterflies are not only ephemerally beautiful, they’re crucial pollinators for a variety of important food crops and flowers. And in the western U.S., they’re disappearing—fast
, with the biggest autumn temperature increases in the Southwest. In Arizona, for instance, fall temperatures have risen by 0.2 degree Fahrenheit every decade since 1895. That may be why the west coast lady, a vibrant orange-and-black butterfly, has declined at a rate of 3 percent a year in the state.
The team relied on three datasets: one academic; one from the crowdsourcing data site iNaturalist, a joint project of the California Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Geographic Society; and one from theThe study locations, a mix of urban and wild, revealed butterflies were vanishing even in pristine areas.
As for why warming falls are so detrimental, it may be connected to butterflies’ hibernation-like diapause in the fall. Warmer temperatures could be forcing the insects, most of which live around a year, to stay awake longer and starve., an entomologist and assistant professor of citizen and data science at the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment.
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