British scientists have successfully relocated butterfly colonies 40 miles north of the previous limit of their range in what is reportedly the first instance of assisted colonization in the face of global warming. A team of researchers transplanted colonies from two species — marbled white butterflies and small skipper butterflies — to a more northerly location that computer models had predicted would be good habitat for the insects. Relocated in 1999 and 2000, the butterflies “have become established and are thriving,” according to Brian Huntley of the University of Durham. The study, reported in the journal Conservation Letters, said the butterflies’ arrival in the new locale has apparently had no adverse effects on other species. Some ecologists now maintain that numerous species will need to be moved to more northerly locales, or higher elevations, to avoid extinction in a warming world.
Butterfly Colonies RelocatedIn Experiment in ‘Assisted Colonization’
More From E360
-
Solutions
In Seawater, Researchers See an Untapped Bounty of Critical Metals
-
INTERVIEW
Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger
-
Solutions
In a Dammed and Diked Mekong, a Push to Restore the Flow
-
INTERVIEW
How One South African Community Stopped Shell Oil in Its Tracks
-
ANALYSIS
Will New Leader End Progress in Saving Indonesia’s Forests?
-
Oceans
Dire Straits: Can a Fishing Ban Save the Elusive European Eel?
-
Climate
Scientists Are Trying to Coax the Ocean to Absorb More CO2
-
INTERVIEW
Marina Silva on Brazil’s Fight to Turn the Tide on Deforestation
-
Solutions
Solomon Islands Tribes Sell Carbon Credits, Not Their Trees
-
INTERVIEW
With Sea Turtles in Peril, a Call for New Strategies to Save Them
-
RIVERS
Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River
-
Energy
A Nuclear Power Revival Is Sparking a Surge in Uranium Mining