Dozens of butterflies appear to have significantly declined across America. This is especially true in the Midwest, according to a startling new study.
Michigan State University recently investigated butterfly species across the country. Researchers inspected 136 species of butterflies. According to USA Today, the study shockingly discovered that all the butterflies have declined or remained stagnant population-wise over the past several decades.
"We expected to find that at least some species had done well over the past 32 years," study lead author Wendy Leuenberger of Michigan State University said in a statement to USA Today.
Butterflies On Decline
You're less likely to come across a monarch butterfly in the Midwest. Leuenberger also said, "You're less likely to spot rare species as well." That makes them even rarer and a bigger challenge to find.
"These are all changes that have occurred during my lifetime, which is humbling," she said, per USA Today.
The study said, "Insects are declining worldwide, yet gaps remain in our understanding of how declines are distributed across species within communities. Using three decades of butterfly monitoring data aggregated from the Midwestern United States, we found that no butterfly species increased in abundance from 1992 to 2023. 59 out of 136 species declined (annual mean trend: ?'1.2 to ?'6.9% per year) with losses distributed across all functional groups including residents, migrants, rare, and common species."
