BUTTERFLIES IN DELHI

For nature lovers, there is good news flying about these days: wildlife experts say that butterflies, seen most in the Capital during and after the rainy season, are increasing not just in numbers, but also in variety. Wildlife scientist Dr Faiyaz A Khudsar says, “There has been a definite increase in butterfly species in Delhi in the last few years.

Last year itself we saw an increase at the conservatories at the Yamuna Biodiversity Park and the Aravali Biodiversity Park. About 95 species are recorded at Aravali and about 70 species at the Yamuna Biodiversity park.”

Butterfly spotting is a complicated science and documenting it is a long and labourious process. The last recorded substantial study on Delhi’s butterflies was in 2002, when author and researcher Torben B Larsen reported 86 species in the Capital. Says Delhi-based lepidopterist Dr Surya Prakash, “We still mainly follow the British nomenclature, but we are aiming at coming with our own. We need more awareness measures like nature drills and conservation programmes to protect one of nature’s most beautiful creations.”

The last Delhi-based documentation of butterflies before 2002 was way back in 1970 — and even since 2002, there have been more sightings, though there is no official documentation as no report has been published since. “Of late, more attention is being given to butterfly research than it has got so far from government and media,” says Dr Prakash.

Butterflies are markers of environmental health. “Butterflies play a crucial role in pollination of a large portion of economically important crops and flowering plants, second only to the honeybee. The  silk industry is also dependent on the butterfly. If the butterfly diversity declines, it will directly affect the country’s agriculture,” says Dr Prakash.

With its Ridge forests, green areas and biodiversity parks, Delhi serves as an active host to these coloured winged residents. While beauties like the Plain Tiger and the Yellow Orange Tip have always roamed our ridges, some new species of butterflies have been found in the capital, and Prakash’s report, with the new names, to be out soon is expected to be the next record after the 2002 Torben B Larsen report.

One of the new entries  will be the Common Jay, very recently spotted. Others to make a debut on the list of Delhi’s butterflies post 2002 are the Rounded Pierrot, Common Banded Awl and the Common Blue Bottle, the last from the swallowtail family. In the 2002 list, new entries were the Red Pierrot, Crimson Tip, Indian Cabbage White, Tawny Coasters, Painted Lady, and Common Crow.

Also known as the ‘umbrella species’, butterflies are good bio-indicators and pointers of a healthy ecosystem and they protect the existence of other species too. With South, Western Ghats and North-East having the majority of butterfly species in India, Delhi isn’t much behind. Adds Prakash, “These areas have the maximum number of butterflies but poaching is also most prevalent in these areas.

There are 17000 species of butterflies on the planet, and India is host to about 1600 species and in Delhi, with upcoming new published reports, the number will officially be more than 90.

Government bodies such as NDMC are also taking up the cause of protecting the species. Says Jitender Kaushik, assistant director, Horticulture, NDMC, “In 2009, we took an initiative at Lodhi Garden to create a conservatory area just for butterflies. During March-April and September-October, we see a good number. 

We saw 22 species  this year among which about 7 were new ones.” Says Field Biologist Dr. Aisha Sultana, “We have seen a good number of increase in some species like the Glassy Tiger, Danaid Eggfly, Common Mormon. The numbers of the existing ones are also increasing.”As Delhi continues to be home for butterflies, the future doesn’t seem to be devoid of flying colours.

Why butterflies and moths are important

There are many reasons why butterflies and moths are important, both in their own right but also as quality of life indicators. The following are the main reasons for conserving butterflies and moths in the UK and around the world. 

Intrinsic value

• Butterflies and moths are intrinsically valuable and are worthy of conservation in their own right.
• Butterflies and moths are part of Life on Earth and an important component of its rich biodiversity.
• They have been around for at least 50 million years and probably first evolved some 150 million years ago.
• Butterflies and moths are a highly diverse group comprising over 250,000 species and make up around one quarter of all named species.
• Butterflies are flagship species for conservation in general, and in particular for invertebrates.

Aesthetic value

• Butterflies and moths are part of our natural heritage and have been studied for over 300 years.
• Butterflies and moths are beautiful. Many are iconic and popular.
• People like butterflies.
• There are many references to butterflies and moths in literature, from the Bible through Shakespeare to modern day literature, and from poetry to musical lyrics.
• Butterflies are used by advertisers and illustrators the world over as way of indicating that something is environmentally friendly.
• Butterflies are often portrayed as the essence of nature or as representing freedom, beauty or peace.

Educational value

• Butterflies and moths have fascinating life-cycles that are used in many countries to teach children about the natural world. The transformation from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis is one of the wonders of nature.
• Other educational aspects include the intricate wing patterns and iridescence, and as examples of insect migration.

Scientific value

• Butterflies (and moths to a lesser extent) are an extremely important group of ‘model’ organisms used, for centuries, to investigate many areas of biological research, including such diverse fields as navigation, pest control, embryology, mimicry, evolution, genetics, population dynamics and biodiversity conservation.
• The long history and popularity of butterfly study have provided a unique data resource on an insect group unmatched in geographical scale and timescale anywhere in the world. This has proved extremely important for scientific research on climate change.

Ecosystem value

• Butterflies and moths are indicators of a healthy environment and healthy ecosystems.
• They indicate a wide range of other invertebrates, which comprise over two-thirds of all species.
• Areas rich in butterflies and moths are rich in other invertebrates. These collectively provide a wide range of environmental benefits, including pollination and natural pest control.
• Moths and butterflies are an important element of the food chain and are prey for birds, bats and other insectivorous animals (for example, in Britain and Ireland, Blue Tits eat an estimated 50 billion moth caterpillars each year).
• Butterflies and moths support a range of other predators and parasites, many of which are specific to individual species, or groups of species.
• Butterflies have been widely used by ecologists as model organisms to study the impact of habitat loss and fragmentation, and climate change.

Health value

• People enjoy seeing butterflies both around their homes and in the countryside.
• Over 10,000 people record butterflies and moths in the UK alone, involving getting outside and walking considerable distances. Over 850 sites are monitored each week in the UK and collectively volunteers have walked the equivalent of the distance to the moon counting butterflies.
• Several hundreds of thousands of people garden for wildlife in the UK, many of them specifically for butterflies and moths.

Economic value

• Thousands of people travel abroad each year looking for butterflies and moths. Eco-tours bring valuable income to many European countries and developing countries around the world (e.g. the valley of the butterflies in Rhodes and the Monarch roost in Mexico).
• Every butterfly and moth has developed its own suite of chemicals to deter predators and parasites, find a mate, and overcome the chemical defences of its host plant. Each of these chemicals has a potential value and could be exploited economically.  For example, powerful antibiotics have been found in the Meadow Brown, one of our commonest and most widespread species.

Why butterflies matter

Butterflies conjure up images of sunshine, the warmth and colour of flowery meadows, and summer gardens teaming with life. Moths are one of the most diverse group of insects on earth, ranging from spectacular Hawk-moths to small, intricately patterned Footman moths.

Sadly, four butterflies and over 60 moths became extinct during the last century. Three-quarters of British butterflies are in decline and many moths are also facing an uncertain future.

The 56 species in Britain and Ireland are under threat today from unprecedented environmental change. Butterflies and moths have been recognised by the Government as indicators of biodiversity. Their fragility makes them quick to react to change so their struggle to survive is a serious warning about our environment.

Habitats have been destroyed on a massive scale, and now patterns of climate and weather are shifting unpredictably in response to pollution of the atmosphere but the disappearance of these beautiful creatures is more serious than just a loss of colour in the countryside. 

EFFECT BUTTERFLY

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependency on initial conditions in which a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane's formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks earlier.

Although the butterfly effect may appear to be an esoteric and unlikely behavior, it is exhibited by very simple systems. For example, a ball placed at the crest of a hill may roll into any surrounding valley depending on, among other things, slight differences in its initial position.

The butterfly effect is a common trope in fiction, especially in scenarios involving time travel. Additionally, works of fiction that involve points at which the storyline diverges during a seemingly minor event, resulting in a significantly different outcome than would have occurred without the divergence, are an example of the butterfly effect.