Title:
Butterflies are vanishing in the western U.S.—but not for the reasons scientists thought
Author:
Elizabeth Pennisi
Published:
Science, 4 March 2021
From the article:
Recent studies have shown monarchs are in steep decline, and surveys of insects, in general, show shrinking numbers. Yet most data for these studies come from densely populated or intensively farmed areas.
But butterflies are at risk in open spaces, too. Art Shapiro, an insect ecologist at the University of California, Davis, and colleagues have shown that over the past 35 years, butterflies are disappearing even in pristine protected areas such as the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the western United States.