Global Butterfly Range Shifts Linked to Climate Change
An international team of researchers analyzed 1,758 butterfly species across 105 countries, publishing the results in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The study found that about 80 % of the species have expanded their geographic ranges, largely as a response to rising temperatures, extreme weather events and intensified land use. Approximately 27 % of species showed range contractions and 22 % shifted to different elevations.
Lead author Dr. Shawan Chowdhury, head of the Global Change Ecology Lab at Monash University in Melbourne, highlighted that butterflies are sensitive early‑warning indicators of ecosystem change. The analysis revealed range shifts on every continent, with notable gaps in monitoring tropical regions such as the Amazon, Central Africa, Southeast Asia and New Guinea. The findings underscore the widespread impact of climate change on biodiversity and the need for broader, multilingual data collection to better track these trends.
Entities: Climate change · Dr. Shawan Chowdhury · Jonathan Lenoir · Monash University · Nature Ecology & Evolution · University of Jena · butterfly species · iDiv (Institute of Plant Sciences)
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Only about 22 % of species showed a shift in elevation. (new)
- [● 2 SOURCES] The study analyzed 1,758 butterfly species in 105 countries. (new)
- [● 2 SOURCES] Butterflies are considered early indicators of ecosystem health. (new)
- [● 2 SOURCES] The analysis is the largest global collection of butterfly distribution data to date. (new)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] The study was published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. (new)
- [● 2 SOURCES] About 80 % of the studied butterfly species expanded their geographic range. (new)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Approximately 27 % of the species experienced range contractions. (new)
- [● 2 SOURCES] Around 79 % of the distribution changes are linked to climate change and extreme weather events. (new)