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from the ephemeral-things-that-live-but-for-a-day dept.
Writing in the Strange Behaviors column on takepart, Richard Conniff reviews a paper that appeared in Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf8838) this week (paywalled). The paper's summary on Science says:
Butterflies are better documented and monitored worldwide than any other nonpest taxon of insects. In the United Kingdom alone, volunteer recorders have sampled more than 750,000 km of repeat transects since 1976, equivalent to walking to the Moon and back counting butterflies. Such programs are revealing regional extinctions and population declines that began before 1900. In a recent study, Habel et al. report a similar story based on inventories of butterflies and burnet moths since 1840 in a protected area in Bavaria, Germany. The results reveal severe species losses: Scarce, specialized butterflies have largely disappeared, leaving ecosystems dominated by common generalist ones. Similar trends are seen across Europe and beyond, with protected areas failing to conserve many species for which they were once famed. [Citation numbers removed, see the link above if you want them]
In his article, Conniff says:
[Oxford University lepidopterist Jeremy A.] Thomas acknowledges that the decline in butterflies is not exceptional. Bumblebees, dragonflies, moths, and ladybirds (or ladybugs, in this country) may be even worse off because of environmental damage inflicted by humans. Those insect groups really matter in the sense that they have ecological value for pollination and predator control. Butterflies, on the other hand, are mostly just pretty to look at.
The idea that we are destroying butterflies -- not just individual butterflies but vast swaths of species -- resonates ominously.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @03:22AM
Butterflies and moths endanger our food supplies. Remember what they really are: adult caterpillars
If the loss is a problem for you, then you might as well mourn the loss of smallpox or the guinea worm too. Oh noes, the extinction!
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @03:42AM
Not all caterpillars are made equally. Some eat people food, but others do not. Most herbivorous caterpillars eat a particular plant species and nothing else. Other caterpillar species are preditors and eat all sorts of pest insects. Also, many species of adult caterpillars are great pollinators and indicators of general ecosystem health.
(Score: 4, Funny) by edIII on Saturday July 23 2016, @03:49AM
I agree. Anybody with a brain knows that nature organizes itself into distinct groups wholly unaffected by the others.
It's okay if they're wiped out. While we're at it, I'm totally sure we can get rid of all the pesky mosquitos, and nuisance insects too right?
How about we just set the litmus test of does-it-inconvenience-a-human-or-reduce-profits? Yes, then we send in Marines. Hoo yah.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @12:01PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @05:02AM
I just… Poe's law strikes again?
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday July 24 2016, @12:14PM
This sort of thinking is why we are losing our nice things.