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The Impact of Climate Change On Butterflies in Britain

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228 views2 pages

The Impact of Climate Change On Butterflies in Britain

Uploaded by

hohien4444
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The impact of climate change on butterflies in Britain

According to conservationists, populations of around two thirds of butterfly species have declined in
Britain over the past 40 years. If this trend continues, it might have unpredictable knock-on effects for
other species in the ecosystem. Butterfly eggs develop into caterpillars and these insects, which are the
second stage in a new butterfly’s lifecycle, consume vast quantities of plant material, and in turn act as
prey for birds as well as bats and other small mammals. Only by arming themselves with an
understanding of why butterfly numbers are down can conservationists hope to halt or reverse the decline.
Butterflies prefer outdoor conditions to be ‘just right’, which means neither too hot nor too cold. Under
the conditions of climate change, the temperature at any given time in summer is generally getting
warmer, leaving butterflies with the challenge of how to deal with this. One of the main ways in which
species are ensuring conditions suit them is by changing the time of year at which they are active and
reproduce. Scientists refer to the timing of such lifecycle events as ‘phenology’, so when an animal or
plant starts to do something earlier in the year than it usually does, it is said to be ‘advancing its
phenology’.
These advances have been observed already in a wide range of butterflies – indeed, most species are
advancing their phenology to some extent. In Britain, as the average spring temperature has increased by
roughly 0.5°C over the past 20 years, species have advanced by between three days and a week on
average, to keep in line with cooler temperatures. Is this a sign that butterflies are well equipped to cope
with climate change, and readily adjust to new temperatures? Or are these populations under stress, being
dragged along unwillingly by unnaturally fast changes? The answer is still unknown, but a new study is
seeking to answer these questions.
First, the researchers pulled together data from millions of records that had been submitted by butterfly
enthusiasts-people who spend their free time observing the activities of different species. This provided
information on 130 species of butterflies in Great Britain every year for a 20-year period. They then
estimated the abundance and distribution of each species across this time, along with how far north in the
country they had moved. The data also, crucially, allowed researchers to estimate subtle changes in what
time of the year each species was changing into an adult butterfly.
The High Brown Fritillary
*has one reproductive cycle
*is considered to be more 3 than other species
*its caterpillars occupy a limited range of 4

The Silver-studded Blue


*is already able to reproduce twice a year in warm areas of 5

The White Admiral


*is found in 6 areas of England
*both climate change and the 7 of the caterpillar are possible reasons for decline

Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1 Forty years ago, there were fewer butterflies in Britain than at present.
A TRUE
B FALSE
C NOT GIVEN
2 Caterpillars are eaten by a number of different predators.
A TRUE
B FALSE
C NOT GIVEN
3 ‘Phenology’ is a term used to describe a creature’s ability to alter the location of a lifecycle event.
A TRUE
B FALSE
C NOT GIVEN
4 Some species of butterfly have a reduced lifespan due to spring temperature increases.
A TRUE
B FALSE
C NOT GIVEN
5 There is a clear reason for the adaptations that butterflies are making to climate change.
A TRUE
B FALSE
C NOT GIVEN
6 The data used in the study was taken from the work of amateur butterfly watchers.
A TRUE
B FALSE
C NOT GIVEN

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