Ecosystem Value of Butterflies
ETE is focusing on producing butterfly friendly plants in our native nursery. Why you may ask? Not only are butterflies beautiful, they are tremendously important to our ecosystem!
Ecosystem Value
- Butterflies are indicators of a healthy environment and healthy ecosystems.
- They indicate a wide range of other invertebrates, which comprise over two-thirds of all species.
- Areas rich in butterflies and moths are rich in other invertebrates. These collectively provide a wide range of environmental benefits, including pollination and natural pest control.
- Moths and butterflies are an important element of the food chain and are prey for birds, bats and other insectivorous animals.
- Butterflies support a range of other predators and parasites, many of which are specific to individual species, or groups of species.
- Butterflies have been widely used by ecologists as model organisms to study the impact of habitat loss and fragmentation, and climate change.
Butterflies are pollinators
Butterflies are the third most populace pollinator behind bees/wasps and flies. In case you haven’t heard, we are facing a pollinator crisis. The world’s food supply depends on pollinators. As smart as we humans think we are, we haven’t figured out how to produce food without pollinators. And unlike the water crisis that is happening world-wide (in the west in the US) the pollinator crisis is something that everyone can help with no matter where you are.http://southernwilddesign.com/butterflies-important/.
Threats to Butterflies and How You Can Help Them
Habit change and loss as well as climate change are the biggest threats to butterflies today. These delicate insects are incredibly sensitive to climate change and habitat loss and require ideal conditions for their eggs to mature. This sensitivity, though useful for monitoring the health of our ecosystems, is a downfall for the survival of many butterfly species. An abundance of butterflies indicates a healthy ecosystem, but if there is a subtle change in the environment, it can trigger an extreme drop in the butterfly population. While climate change has caused a significant amount of damage to butterfly populations, other human actions are also implicated in the butterfly’s decline.
Like bees, butterflies populations can also be harmed by pesticides. A great way to help these insects survive is to eat more organic foods, avoid pesticides in your personal landscaping, and to start cultivating milkweed and other nectar plants in your own garden.
