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Of the 117 butterfly species recorded in 1840 in the survey site, a protected habitat in the south-German state of Bavaria, just 71 are still found today, said the authors of the study recently published in the journal Conservation Biology. "Species requiring a specific type of habitat or food source, such as the "elegant white and ochre-spotted" hermit butterfly, are threatened with extinction in Germany. Extinction rates over the last 30 years are "particularly alarming," says the study.

According to wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation, 44 out of the country’s 58 butterfly species have seen a drop in their populations, leaving some species at risk of extinction in the U.K. Common butterflies of the general countryside as well as specialist butterflies that require particular habitats have declined.\Richard Fox, head of recording at Butterfly Conservation, tells Newsweek that the dramatic decrease in the number of garden butterflies is “severe and statistically significant.”

Erik Runquist saw it for a moment, then it was gone. Walking a tract of Nature Conservancy-owned prairie outside Moorhead, Runquist caught a glimpse of a Dakota skipper (Hesperia dacotae), a thumbnail-sized, orange and brown butterfly. It perched atop a coneflower before disappearing into the prairie grass. "Skippers are evasive. You may get only a few seconds to be able to find it before it zips off the coneflower, especially if it's a windy day," said Runquist, the Minnesota Zoo's butterfly conservation biologist.

Human disturbance negatively affects the pollination and seed dispersal of forest trees -- an effect that can be observed in both tropical and temperate forests. This is the key result of a synthesis of 408 studies from 34 countries around the globe. In the long term, less pollination and seed dispersal is likely to reduce the ability of forests to natural regenerate. The researchers investigated all processes in the plant regeneration cycle and specifically asked how much they are each affected by humans.

Humans have reduced biodiversity—the teeming variety of plant and animal life that competes and co-operates in every ecosystem—to below safe levels across more than 58% of the planet’s land surface.

A VISITING US entomologist has slammed Australia’s use of insecticide seed dressings as a prophylactic treatment saying the treatments may be doing more harm than good by killing off beneficial insect species. Jonathan Lundgren, Blue Dasher Farm, South Dakota, said both predatory insect species that feed on problem pests and bees, critical for the pollination of some crops, were adversely impacted by seed dressings in particular by neo-nicotinoid products, which are popular as seed treatments in Australia.

The number of nests of Indian paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) has registered a decline in Kajligarh forest area where they had been reported in abundant earlier. In a particular stretch of five kilometres in Kajliigarh forest near a flowing water body, more than 10-12 nests of state bird had been reported from several years. However, this year only 4-5 nests were spotted. "These birds are known for making their nests on the same trees, many a times even on the same branches, the decrease in the number of nests shows a change in behaviour," said Ajay Gadikar, ornithologist.

Experts have said that the Crested Crane (Balearica regulorum), Uganda’s heritage symbol, both on the country’s flag and Court of Arms, is on its way to extinction. William Olupot of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said only 21 districts still had the national bird out of the 35 where they were sighted about 10 years ago. But the nests for the Cranes were sighted in only 13 out of the 21 districts, an indicator that the breeding grounds for the Cranes are declining and affecting the birds’ population.