Rapid butterfly declines across the United States during the 21st century
Numerous declines have been documented across insect groups, and the potential consequences of insect losses are dire. Butterflies are the most surveyed insect taxa, yet analyses have been limited in geographic scale or rely on data from a single monitoring program. Using records of 12.6 million individual butterflies from >76,000 surveys across 35 monitoring programs, we characterized overall and species-specific butterfly abundance trends across the contiguous United States. Between 2000 and 2020, total butterfly abundance fell by 22% across the 554 recorded species. Species-level declines were widespread, with 13 times as many species declining as increasing. The prevalence of declines throughout all regions in the United States highlights an urgent need to protect butterflies from further losses.
Authors
- Scott Black
- Douglas J. Taron
- James Michielini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3750-5427)
- Elise A. Larsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9238-6777)
- Scott R. Swengel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0688-3572)
- Arthur M. Shapiro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1933-9077)
- Cheryl B. Schultz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3388-8950)
- Ann B. Swengel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2320-7197)
- Naresh Neupane (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5652-0230)
- Jay E. Diffendorfer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1093-6948)
- Jeffrey Glassberg
- Shiran Hershcovich
- Wendy Leuenberger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6567-9913)
- Mary J. Linders
- Wayne E. Thogmartin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2384-4279)
- Steven Campbell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9459-2868)
- Collin B. Edwards (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4937-5159)
- Jerome Wiedmann
- Elizabeth E. Crone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5287-221X)
- Eliza M. Grames (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1743-6815)
- Travis Longcore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1039-2613)
- Leslie Ries (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5953-9284)
- Braeden Van Deynze (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9623-3639)
- Elise F. Zipkin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4155-6139)
- Erica Henry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6700-8128)
- Candace E. Fallon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6100-6436)
- Margaret R. Douglas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5160-4822)
- Matthew L. Forister (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2765-4779)
- Nick M. Haddad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1591-9322)
- Ryan G. Drum
- Kevin J. Burls
- Daniel A. Marschalek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6590-9862)
- Richard G. Hatfield (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1231-9070)
Institutions
- Dickinson College (US)
- Binghamton University (US)
- United States Geological Survey (US)
- University of Nevada, Reno (US)
- United States Fish and Wildlife Service (US)
- Washington State University Vancouver (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Georgetown University (US)
- Denver Federal Center (US)
- Chicago Academy of Sciences (US)
- Wildlands Network (US)
- Xerces Society (US)
- University of Central Missouri (US)
- Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (US)
- Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services (US)
- North American Butterfly Association (US)
- Rice University (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Michigan State University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2025-03-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adp4671
- Citations
- 56
- Primary Topic
- Plant and animal studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 169.51