The spring sun is high in a clear blue sky. The meadow ripples with colourful flowers, among which butterflies are fluttering. Their magnificent patterned wings reflect the sunlight as they dance from one flower to the next.
Or so it should be. But global warming and marked losses of natural habitat have put butterfly populations into free fall across the world. The number of butterflies has halved in some European countries since 1990. Some 99.9% of North-American monarchs have disappeared. In Australia a joint report last year called ‘Butterflies on the brink’ saw scientists from six universities identify 26 Australian butterfly species and subspecies at risk of extinction, and estimated the probability that they will be lost within 20 years. And all this is a problem – 90% of the world’s flowering plants rely on pollinators such as bees and butterflies.
But scientists are not only identifying the problems – they are creating recovery plans: protecting habitat, establishing more of the right caterpillar food plants, and even undertaking large-scale relocation projects in their efforts to save some of the
