26 August 2026

Photo: esiul at pixabay

Butterflies are widely considered to be a valuable 'early warning system' for environmental changes, as they react rapidly and pronouncedly to changes in their environment, such as climate change. In an international meta-study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, researchers investigated 1,758 butterfly species. The experts reviewed 7,000 studies from 105 countries. Dr. Kerstin Jantke from the University of Hamburg’s Cluster of Excellence “Climate, Climatic Change, and Society” (CLICCS) and her colleague Luisa Gensch, who conducts research at the University of Hamburg and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, gathered the data from the German-speaking countries.

In the context of climate change and extreme weather, the distribution ranges of butterflies are changing around the world. The experts gathered more than 6,000 indications of range shifts and determined that roughly 80 percent of the species had extended their range and, in response to climbing temperatures, had expanded into other suitable areas. "If their ranges are shifting so dramatically, it simply shows how profoundly climate change is already affecting natural ecosystems," Dr. Jantke explains in a recent report by Bayerischer Rundfunk. This situation is particularly problematic for tropical butterflies. If it gets even warmer in the tropics, they cannot simply move elsewhere and may face extinction. Improved international monitoring programs and consideration of the needs of insects are urgently needed when planning nature reserves.

Read full press release of University of Hamburg

Publication