The ability of butterflies to absorb or repel sunlight with their wings could be a matter of life and death for these cold-blooded insects in global warming conditions.
Scientists are therefore calling for shady areas to be created in gardens, parks and farms so that these animals can take shelter and cool down. Butterflies are not warm-blooded creatures and cannot create and regulate their body temperature.
Research has found that cold-blooded species that struggle to maintain body temperature often depend on whether they can shelter from strong sunlight in a shady microclimate in order to survive. Butterflies are most likely to suffer from climate change and habitat loss.
Scientists say that, with the loss and fragmentation of habitats, the areas where butterflies cooled decreased, which led to the loss of the population in two thirds of butterfly species in Great Britain.
This is exacerbated by extreme weather changes and temperature fluctuations resulting from climate change. To measure how butterflies cope with temperature changes, scientists caught 4,000 wild butterflies from 29 species across Britain in 2009, and in 2018.
They recorded their behavior and measured their temperature with a miniature thermometer. The study found that larger, pale-colored butterflies have better thermoregulation because they can better repel sunlight with their wings at a certain angle or direct it toward the body to maintain the right temperature.
According to their results, these species had a stable population or it was increasing in the observed period. But species of smaller butterflies and those with more colorful wings have less appearance, especially those that rely more on shade. These species have seen a sharp decline in numbers over the past 40 years, according to a study published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
