The United Nations warns that 40% of invertebrate pollinators are at risk of global extinction.
Cuyabeno:
Biologists on trails in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest hold their breath as the stinky delicacy tempts butterflies, important pollinators increasingly threatened by climate change. One team hung 32 traps made of green netting, each baited with rotting fish and fermented bananas. They are designed to blend in with the forest canopy. Their pungent smell certainly isn’t.
Since last August, a team of biologists and park rangers have been monitoring butterfly populations at the Cuyabeno Wildlife Refuge, a park known for its rich flora and fauna.
They capture and record these colorful insects, releasing most with identifying markings on their wings. Some of them, possibly from previously unknown species, were retained for further study.
However, the results of the team’s work were discouraging.
Biologist Maria Fernanda Checa told AFP the butterflies are “biological indicators” whose health can measure the health of the surrounding ecosystem, but their numbers are declining.
While the decline in species may not be more than 10 percent, in terms of absolute numbers of butterflies, “the decline is very significant… maybe 40/50 percent,” she said.
“It shocked us.”
biological indicators
A team, led by expedition leader Elisa Levy, checks nets for captured butterflies.
They carefully grasped the insects by their underbelly and used tweezers to manipulate their legs and wings.
Some are bright red and blue, and others have colors similar to zebra stripes. Some are clear, like glass.
About three-quarters of all fruit or seed crops for human consumption rely on pollinators, which provide free services worth billions of dollars.
The United Nations has warned that 40% of invertebrate pollinators – especially bees and butterflies – are at risk of global extinction, posing some risk to humans themselves.
Butterflies are “extremely sensitive to even small changes in the ecosystem” during their short life cycle from egg to caterpillar to reproductive adult, Cheka said.
Levy explained that tropical plants, unlike those found in areas with different seasons, are not used to extreme weather changes.
If they don’t adapt to a rapidly changing climate, these plants, and the butterfly larvae that feed on them, could disappear.
Ecuador is a relatively small country but extremely biodiverse, with about 4,000 butterfly species, almost as many as its much larger neighbors Peru and Colombia.
However, in places like Yasuni National Park near Cuyabeno, “species are being discovered more slowly than they are becoming extinct,” Checa said.
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