ScienceDaily (Aug. 8, 2005) — The latest issue of Conservation Biology examines the viability of the Sinai baton blue and the results of human population pressures. The study predicts that in the absence of global warming, grazing, and plant collection (three activities directly linked to humans) the world's smallest butterfly would persist for at least 200 years.

The population could withstand small increases in grazing intensity that would decrease their climate, but not increases in temperature. As the level of global warming raises its impact, extinction rapidly accelerates. This implies "... that there may be an annual average temperature, specific to each endangered species, above which extinction becomes much more likely," authors Martin Hoyle and Mike James state. There is no such threshold of grazing pressure.

The authors mapped the entire global range of this butterfly and obtained data on the intensity of livestock grazing. The Sinai baton blue is one of only two endemic animals in St. Katherine's Protectorate, one of Egypt's most recently designated protected areas. Based on the authors' model, the effect of global warming on the chance of extinction does not depend on the future level of habitat destruction due to this grazing; the growing number of families that live on the protectorate keep a small herd of goats and sheep that graze on the plants the butterflies thrive on. Global warming is the deadly culprit.

"If the areas of habitat patches individually fall below certain prescribed levels, the butterfly is likely to go extinct,"the authors conclude.

This study is published in the August issue of Conservation Biology. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article please contact journalnews@bos.blackwellpublishing.net

Conservation Biology is a top-ranked journal in the fields of Ecology and Environmental Science and has been called, "required reading for ecologists throughout the world." It is published on behalf of the Society for Conservation Biology.

Martin Hoyle is at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at the University of Exeter, Hatherly Laboratories. He has performed research on metapopulation dynamics and has been published in numerous journals.

Related Stories

Brown Argus Butterfly Sees Positive Effects Of Climate Change (June 9, 2008) — Global warming is generally thought to have a negative affect on the habitats of many animals and plants. Not for the Brown Argus butterfly, however. This insect seems to be bucking the trend and ...  > read more

Improved Predictions Of Warming-induced Extinctions Sought; Species Persist More Than Models Assume, Researchers Say (Mar. 2, 2007) — A team of researchers notes that fewer species went extinct during the past 2.5 million years than many ecological models would predict. Unexpected persistence of some species in adverse conditions ...  > read more

Global Warming Capable Of Sparking Mass Species Extinctions (Apr. 12, 2006) — The Earth could see massive waves of species extinctions around the world if global warming continues unabated, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Conservation Biology. ...  > read more

'Unsung Species' Ignored On Endangered List (Sep. 10, 2004) — The global extinction crisis ignores thousands of affiliated species that are also at risk of being wiped out, making the list of endangered species much larger and more serious than originally ...  > read more

Search ScienceDaily

Our Changing Climate