Only aggressive efforts to rein in global warming coupled with a rethinking of the British countryside will save many native species of butterfly, according to a study published Monday.
“Widespread, drought-sensitive butterfly population extinction could occur as early as 2050,” scientists reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Under a business-as-usual scenario of continued greenhouse gas emissions, the odds that certain British Isles species will make it beyond mid-century are “around zero,” the study concludes.
Protecting wilderness areas — and especially reducing the fragmentation of natural habitats — would give some of these gossamer creatures at least a slim chance of survival.
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