British Butterfly Needs Warm Weather this Summer to Survive

In a latest finding, researchers at the University of Exeter have found that fluctuations in temperature across the range of silver-spotted skipper habitats has lead to a huge alteration in the population of the butterfly.

Butterflies are very sensitive to changes in temperature, and bad summer weathers are just not favorable to the population of the silver-spotted skipper, which had earlier faced extinction due to habitat loss. But due to sincere conservative efforts and the recent cool wet summers in England, the species population is bouncing back.

The 27-year study was conducted by the University of Exeter in collaboration with the University of York, the University of Liverpool, Sussex Wildlife Trust, and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the charity Butterfly Conservation. The researchers reached the conclusion after examining the fluctuation in temperature across the range of the silver-spotted skipper's habitat.

"Although we know that the climate overall is warming there is still much variability in the weather from one year to the next. This variability presents a threat to southern British butterflies that we might expect to take advantage of warmer conditions to colonise further north. In warmer years the silver-spotted skipper, which needs a balmy 25°C to become fully active, has expanded its range. However during the recent cold wet summers we have found the skipper clinging to the warmest south-facing hillsides waiting for better weather," lead author Dr. Jonathan Bennie, from the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter, said in a press statement.

To progress with the study, researchers worked on the records of both weather and butterflies since the year 1982. They combined this data with computer modeling to restructure microclimates that are created by various slopes; how many butterflies were affected by this, where they were placed, and the rate at which the species was successful to colonize new locations as the climate warmed.

The researchers managed to produce a precise reconstruction of the expansion of the butterfly across the landscape. With this, they hope to come up with crucial predictions which will be important for the conservation of this butterfly in the future, says co author Dr. Jenny Hodgson, University of Liverpool.

The study was published in the journal Ecology Letters.