PARIS, France: Climate change is driving shifts in where butterflies are found globally, a major study said on Wednesday, with many species moving into new areas while others are retreating from traditional habitats.
The study in Nature Ecology & Evolution is one of the most comprehensive to date on how butterfly distributions are changing, assessing more than 1,700 species across 105 countries and territories. Researchers found that nearly 80 per cent of the reported shifts in the geographic ranges where butterflies were associated with climate change and extreme weather events.
Other factors were also driven by human activity: changes in land use, intensive agriculture, urbanisation, habitat fragmentation and the introduction of invasive species.
Butterflies are considered important indicators of ecosystem health because they are highly sensitive to temperature changes, have short life cycles and depend on specific host plants.
As the planet warms -- primarily because of the burning of coal, oil and gas -- some butterfly species are relocating northwards or seeking out higher elevations in search of cooler conditions.
However, just 22 per cent of species showed a shift in elevation.
