Climate Change is Shrinking Arctic Butterflies
CBC Radio | Posted: October 23, 2015 7:50 PM | Last Updated: October 23, 2015
As the Arctic warms, butterflies use more energy, and are decreasing in size
The effects of climate change in the Arctic are usually measured in terms of diminishing ice cover. As for the effect on wildlife, it is the polar bear that gets most of the attention. Butterflies, on the other hand, do not come to mind as an Arctic species, let alone one that suffers due to rising temperatures.
But a new study by Dr. Joseph Bowden, a Canadian post-doctoral researcher at The Arctic Research Centre at Aarhus University in Denmark, has found that two species of butterfly - the Arctic Fritillary and the Northern Clouded Yellow - are getting smaller. Warmer temperatures are resulting in a greater metabolic cost for the butterflies; consequently, their wingspan has decreased by as much as 5 percent since the mid-1990's.
With smaller wings, the butterflies cannot cover as much area, which is leading to a reduction in the gene pool. This trend will likely continue, but the end result is not well understood at this point.
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