TRENTO, Italy (AP) — In a lush greenhouse high in the Alps, butterflies of various species and colors flutter freely, suspended in a structure as butterfly pupae transform into adult insects.
This is the Butterfly Forest in a tropical mountain greenhouse in Trento, Italy, a project of the Museo delle Scienze (MUSE), an Italian science museum. It is modeled after the Udzungwa Mountains, a mountain range and rainforest area in south-central Tanzania, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. The Butterfly Forest houses birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates from different parts of the world, as well as plant species indigenous to the region, within a 600 square meter (approximately 6,400 square feet) forest with cliffs, slopes and a waterfall. .
The Butterfly Forest was created this spring to raise public awareness about some of the research MUSE is doing in the Udzungwa Mountains to study the world’s biodiversity and protect it from threats such as deforestation and climate change.
Deforestation causes habitat loss, which in turn reduces nectar sources for butterflies, altering the functioning of the ecosystem. It can also limit the movements of insects, resulting in reduced biodiversity and the potential for extinction of sensitive butterfly species. Changes in soil and air temperatures change the life cycles of insects, affecting their development rates, mating behavior and migration patterns. Butterfly populations are declining in many regions, especially those with intensive land use.
“Our goal is to be able to study better, to better understand what’s going on,” said Lisa Angelini, botanist and manager of the MUSE greenhouse. “Our work consists of monitoring and trying to develop projects to draw attention to issues related to biodiversity.”
Butterflies are pollinators that enable plants to reproduce and therefore facilitate food production and supply. They are also food for birds and other animals.
Because of butterflies’ multiple roles in the ecosystem and their high sensitivity to environmental changes, scientists use them as indicators of biodiversity and as a way to study the impact of habitat loss and other threats. “Insects play a fundamental role in the proper functioning of ecosystems in general,” said entomologist and researcher Mauro Gobbi from MUSE.
MUSE, through a partnership with the Tanzania National Parks Authority, established the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Center in 2006 to support research and the development of environmental education programs for schools.
“Research on butterflies is essential to inform conservation efforts and ensure the insects’ long-term survival,” said Arafat Mtui, research coordinator at the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Centre. He added that conservation efforts such as habitat restoration and good land management practices that address the effects of climate change are essential to protecting butterfly populations.
The Udzungwa Mountains are rich in biodiversity, with at least 2,500 plant species, more than 120 mammals and thousands of invertebrate species. It is part of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Kenya and Tanzania, a proposed UNESCO Heritage site. There is more than 40 endemic butterfly species.
Sevgan Subramanian, chief scientist and head of environmental health at the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi, said MUSE’s work here is vital because of this diversity.
“If you want to monitor the health of the ecosystem, it’s very critical to monitor that kind of native or endemic insect population diversity so we have an idea of whether the ecosystem is still healthy,” he said.
Entomologist Gobbi said high-altitude environments such as Udzungwa Mountains National Park are suitable for studying the effects of climate change because they generally do not have direct human impact.
He and other scientists have warned that failure to protect insects from the effects of climate change will greatly reduce the planet’s ability to build a sustainable future.
Scientists at MUSE said the main challenge in protecting the butterfly is to change current agricultural policies to increase the amount of low-intensity agricultural land and encourage diverse landscapes that preserve the remaining parts of their natural habitat.
“Usually our grandparents would say, ‘there aren’t as many butterflies as there used to be,’” he said. This is “absolutely supported by scientific research that confirms that butterflies, like other insects, are in crisis. “We’re losing species, we’re losing them forever, and that’s going to disrupt the balance of ecosystems.”
___
Mureithi reported from Nairobi, Kenya.
___
The Associated Press’s climate and environment coverage receives funding from many private organizations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage at AP.org.