Our world is heating up because of heat-trapping pollution produced by humans' use of dirty energy sources. For most species — especially fragile creatures such as butterflies — that's bad news that can lead to endangerment and extinction. But there are exceptions. In a new book, Constant Bloom, photographer Lucas Foglia has documented the incredible adaptability of the painted lady butterfly, Science Friday reported.
What's happening?
The painted lady is an intricately detailed brown and orange butterfly found across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It migrates seasonally from Europe to Africa and back — but that's an oversimplification.
In fact, the migratory routes of the painted lady are complex, with groups splitting, merging, and changing courses from year to year. Unlike the monarch butterfly, which has a route fixed across thousands of generations, the painted lady adapts on the fly. Foglia spent three years across 18 countries learning about their migration and still has not fully mapped it.
"People try to explain, 'Oh, these butterflies from France are coming from Algeria.' No. They are coming from Algeria and from Spain and from the Netherlands and from [so on]," said entomologist Gerard Talavera of the Institut Botànic de Barcelona, with whom Foglia traveled.
Talavera said the changing climate is an "increasing source of pressure" for the insects.
Why is the variability of this species' migration important?
One of the main factors impacting the painted lady's migration is Earth's rising temperature and how it affects available plants and weather. But instead of dying off in response to this pressure, the painted lady is simply changing its habits.
It's even going to gardens and farms instead of wildflowers. "Painted lady butterflies and many other species are now depending on us when wildflowers are not blooming as they should," Foglia said, per Science Friday.
This adaptability is a hopeful sign and could provide insight into how to help conserve species that are struggling.
What's being done to help butterflies?
As Talavera pointed out, monitoring butterfly migration is not a local project. It requires the cooperation of observers — including scientists and citizens — along the whole migration route.
In 2013, Talavera started the Worldwide Painted Lady Migration Project to let citizen scientists help researchers. In 2024, they proved that a group of butterflies had crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
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