Butterflies populations dying in Mexico, thriving in Canada - 0 views
www.edmontonjournal.com/...story.html
climate change impact butterfly species migration USA Mexico Canada
shared by Hunter Cutting on 30 Jun 10
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in a biological sense butterflies are heavy hitters when it comes to protecting species threatened by climate change.As the world warmed, a butterfly called Edith's checkerspot was the first organism to show a documented range shift,
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Parmesan said Tuesday during a break in the conference. It's also dying out at lower elevations and flourishing in the Sierra Nevada's highest elevations.
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Parmesan and some colleagues also did a study of 57 European species that showed two-thirds were moving northward. Research shows many species move northward because of changes in the growth pattern of plants the butterfly relies on for food.
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Butterflies that already live at high altitudes or in northerly sites are the most likely to be in serious trouble, Parmesan said."What we're seeing at the highest elevations is the species with nowhere to go are essentially evaporating off the tops of those mountains and we're losing those species," said Jeremy Kerr, associate professor of biology at the University of Ottawa, who has also studied the insects."Butterflies are this kind of canary in the coal mine that may be useful guides for what other species will eventually do and the pressures that other species, or species groups, may face," Kerr said.