Greenhouse Effect on Insects - Essay Example

The Sinai baton Blue (Pseudophilotes sinaicus) is reported is reported to be the worlds smallest butterfly. As a butterfly it is of the division Rhopacocera and of the order Lepidoptera.like other butterflies, it is more active during the day. However one phenomenon threatening the existence of this insect is global warming. Global warming which produces what is called the "green house effect" is a situation whereby carbon dioxide and water vapour in warm air leads to an increase in the earths temperature when trapped by a mass of cold air.

the resultant of this is that there is an increase in the surface temperature of the earth as well as the retention of infra-red rays. The typical life cycle of the Sinai Baton blue butterfly is as illustrated below EGG ADULT SINAI LARVA BATON BLUE CHRYSALIS Global warming is however beginning to have significant impact on this insect. This impact may as yet not be dramatic for decades but a clue of what is in the offing, if unchecked, is already visible in the study of this insect.

A major contributing factor to the issue of global warming is the dependence of industrial sectors on fossil fuels which are rich in carbon and when burned combines with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide. The Sinai Baton Blue butterfly is found in the terrestrial ecosystems around the globe. Unfortunately global warming is having a very harmful effect on the Natural habitat of this butterfly. This butterfly must maintain a level of interaction with its abiotic environment in order to survive.

Proteins and nucleic acids are essential nutrients to this insect and the growth of plants from which it derives these nutrients is being severely hampered by the reduction in nitrogen in the soil. Nitrogen fixation by decomposers is already being affected by global warming. Also affected in its terrestrial ecosystems is the water cycle, over 90 Percent of the moisture that enters the ecosystem passes through plants and evaporates from their leaves. A reduction In soil nitrogen therefore affects the water cycle.

The earths rising temperature are beginning very noticeable impact on this butterfly. Its ecosystems are changing on the individual, population and community levels. At the individual level of its ecology this butterfly may not survive in a region above certain degrees in termperature.the change being witnessed now is an estimated average of 0.6C within the last 100 years. It therefore implies that with the current rate in global warming more drastic changes will occur that will lead to the outright extinction of this butterfly.

The Sinai Baton blues are beginning to breed and migrate earlier than expected. They have shifted ranges northward by 200km in Europe and north America-a pole ward shift and as well movement towards higher elevations. In the next 50 years the Sinai Baton Blue Butterfly will have migrated to areas, which were uninhabitable to it in the past. Another area where the potential effect of global warming will be felt greatly are the categories of plant it helps pollinate. Plants are among the slow movers in reaction to changes in global warming.

a direct implication therefore will be extinction of large numbers of plant species. As more and more of this butterflies jostle for the available conducive habitat, a trend will set in-the survival of the fittest. This happens because the population will continue to rise without limit thus ensuing gross overcrowding and the habitat becomes saturated with the butterflies as it reaches its full carrying capacity and can support no more, thus leading to invariable reduction in population. Global warming also has the potential to decrease the diversity of the butterfly, which occurs when their habitat is drastically altered.

Interactions among these butterflies and other species also result. In conclusion the current rate of global warming is very disturbing. Severe stress and pressure is being mounted on the butterfly and there is an urgent need to quickly find ways of reducing the harmful impact of the green house effect. The butterflies as a result of this phenomenon are changing habitats thus leading to an imbalance in the ecosystem they are migrating from. If this trend is left unchecked, in the next 50 years ,both the Sinai Baton Blue butterfly and its neighbours in the ecological niche may have become extinct.

References 1.Stabilisation 2005 conference:survey of scientific papers (hhtp://www.stabilisation2005.com/impacts/impacts_human.pdf 2.Effects of Global warming in the gulf stream (http://www.chez.com/170585 3.http://www.nature.com/nature/jounal 4.http: //www.geocities.com/butterflyresearcher/myresearch.html