{
  "id": 269429,
  "title": "Butterflies Around the World Are Moving to New Habitats, Largely Because of Climate Change, a Study Suggests",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/07/butterflies-around-the-world-are-moving-to-new-habitats-largely",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-07T14:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Smithsonian",
    "slug": "smithsonian",
    "url": "https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/butterflies-around-the-world-are-moving-to-new-habitats-largely-because-of-climate-change-a-study-suggests-180989279/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Butterflies worldwide are shifting their habitats due to climate change, according to a new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Researchers analyzed data from thousands of studies and records, revealing that roughly one in ten butterfly species has altered its range. The scale of this movement is astounding, occurring on every continent where butterflies exist, extending beyond the well-studied regions of Europe and North America. Around 80% of the studied species have expanded their range, while 27% have contracted it, with many experiencing both shifts. Causes of these range changes include climate change, extreme weather events, agriculture, and habitat loss. For instance, in Germany, the cranberry fritillary butterfly has lost habitat due to bog drainage, and in the U.S., an invasive butterfly species has shrunk the habitat of the mustard white. Some species, like the tawny coster native to the Indian subcontinent, have expanded their range at a rapid pace, moving about 84 miles per year since their arrival in Australia in 2012. Others, such as the small blue butterfly, are changing at a slower rate. The tawny coster's slow movement is in contrast to the unusually long-lived Heliconius butterflies, which can live up to nearly a year, around 25 times longer than their close relatives, due to their pollen-heavy diet. The study highlights gaps in data from underrepresented regions like Central Africa, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and the Amazon Basin, calling for expanded biodiversity monitoring, including citizen science efforts, to detect early signs of biodiversity collapse. Experts suggest that planting native trees, allowing lawns to grow, and documenting sightings on platforms like iNaturalist can contribute to butterfly conservation efforts in individual backyards.",
  "summary": "Researchers examined data on 1,758 butterfly species—about ten percent of all those known—from 105 countries and estimated that about one in ten global species has shifted its distribution range",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}