Since August 2023, a team of biologists and park rangers at the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador has been conducting research on butterfly populations to assess the impact of climate change on these essential pollinators.
Butterflies are “very sensitive, even to small changes in the ecosystem.” (Source: kulr8)
Ecuador is a relatively small country but is extremely rich in biodiversity. It is home to approximately 4,000 butterfly species, a number that is nearly equal to that of its larger neighbors, Peru and Colombia.
The biologists employed 32 traps made of green nets baited with fish and fermented bananas to attract butterflies for monitoring.
They captured and recorded the number of butterflies, marked the wings for identification, and then released most of the butterflies back into the wild, keeping only a few from previously unknown species for further research.
Biologist Maria Fernanda Checa. (Source: kulr8).
Biologist Maria Fernanda Checa stated that butterflies are “very sensitive, even to small changes in the ecosystem” throughout their short lifecycle from caterpillar to adult.
Thus, this species can be considered a “biological indicator” reflecting the health of the surrounding ecosystem.
The results were disappointing for researchers: although the number of butterfly species may not have decreased by more than 10%, the number of individual butterflies has significantly declined by about 40-50%.
The decrease in butterfly populations has raised alarm bells about how climate change could severely impact ecosystems.
According to information from the United Nations, 40% of invertebrate pollinator species—especially bees and butterflies—are at risk of global extinction, posing certain risks to humanity itself.
Additionally, this study emphasizes the urgent need to understand and address the impacts of climate change on biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest.
