Butterflies, which play an essential role in the ecosystem, are vanishing from the U.S. landscape at an alarming rate.
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00:00Edna Kane is in the butterfly business, but their numbers are dwindling by almost 25% in the last 20 years.
00:11It's black, it's got spots. This is not a healthy caterpillar.
00:16And now conservationists are taking action to try and save this important insect.
00:20The writing's on the wall. A lot of these species are declining in different parts of the U.S.
00:26Threats like urbanization, climate change, all these things are kind of eroding the perimeter of these populations.
00:34Dr. Jarrett Daniels runs one of the largest butterfly research labs in the country,
00:39and he says the stark drop-off in butterflies signifies a larger problem.
00:43They're at the base of the food chain that we rely on, and they're our safety net for the stability, the productivity, the sustainability of systems.
00:54Insecticides and pesticides, as well as rising temperatures in drought-stricken states, are all partially to blame.
01:01Weather patterns also disrupt the butterfly breeding cycles and limit food sources.
01:06Increased drought, increased tropical storm activity, hurricane activity, all this could have positive and negative benefits,
01:16oftentimes very negative benefits to a lot of species.
01:18Butterflies are pollinators and play an essential role in reproducing food crops, plants, and more.
01:24We want to proactively build those species and populations back while we can.
01:30They're resilient, they just need a little bit of help, and all of us can play a role in that.
01:36I'm Leslie Hudson reporting.