In the Amazon, the vibrant and colorful butterflies are turning gray and brown due to deforestation.
This is highlighted by a study that demonstrated that forest loss reduces the chromatic diversity of 60 species of butterflies analyzed.
The research was led by Brazilian and British scientists from the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter.
They proved that butterflies are sensitive to sudden environmental changes.
In particular, they are closely associated with the plant species in their environment, which makes them indicators of the effects of deforestation.
“The impact of deforestation on ecosystems is enormous”, stated Cristiano Agra, professor and researcher at UFPel and co-supervisor of the study conducted in 2021.
Butterflies in the Amazon, from bright blue to ash tones
The researchers analyzed species in different points of the forest with different levels of human impact.
After the search, they classified each species according to its chromatic composition and contact with the environment.
The butterflies observed in recently deforested areas showed wings with brown or grayish tones.
In contrast, the same species in preserved forests exhibited blue, bright, transparent, red, and orange colors.
Since in deforested areas vegetation is limited, this leads to the disappearance of key species.
One of them is the blue morpho butterfly (Morpho menelaus), which is endangered.
This species plays a fundamental ecological role in maintaining forest ecosystems.
However, only species with tones similar to the burned environment that manage to camouflage better survive.
The keys to the research
Biologist Ricardo Spaniol, lead author linked to the Graduate Program in Ecology at UFRGS, explained that initially they sought to verify various impacts of deforestation.
“It was the colors that caught our attention and we decided to investigate further what was happening with the coloration,” Spaniol noted.
The research was conducted in an area of the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project of the National Institute of Amazonian Research (Inpa).
This site features fragments of original forests, deforested areas, and preserved Amazon rainforest. An essential environmental diversity for scientific observation.
