Urban life is not to everyone’s taste

The scarce fritillary (Euphydryas maturna) Image: Julia Whittman, @birdingjulia CC BY 4. Researchers record adaptability of 158 butterfly species to urbanisation Life Rapidly expanding urban habitats are likely to endanger a large number of butterfly species in the long term. This is reported by scientists from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena in the scientific journal Global Change Biology. Generalists that tolerate large temperature fluctuations and feed on many different plants are most likely to benefit from human-modified habitats. In order to preserve biodiversity, urban and spatial planning should take the needs of specialised butterfly species into account, the authors recommend. Habitat change, for example through urbanisation, is one of the most important causes of biodiversity decline. By 2050, settlements and cities across the globe are predicted to increase by two to three million square kilometres - about half the size of Greenland.