An early spring drives butterfly population declines

Early snow melt in Colorado initiates two chains of events resulting in population decline in Speyeria mormonia. One effect was readily detectable, but the second required an understanding of the butterfly's biology. "This suggests predicting effects of climate change on organisms' population sizes may be difficult due to lack of knowledge of the species' biology," noted Dr. Carol Boggs, professor, department of biology, Stanford University and lead author. The results are published in Ecology Letters. Read more