do you think their role is underrated compared to bees?

[eneria12]

I’ve always been curious about the role butterflies play in pollination. Everyone talks about bees, but butterflies seem to have their own quiet influence, especially in areas with wildflowers and gardens. What caught my attention recently is how scientists also use butterflies as environmental indicators. I read that their presence or sudden decline can say a lot about local climate and even pesticide use. Has anyone here noticed changes in butterfly activity where you live, and do you think their role is underrated compared to bees?

 

[morrowinemonet]

I think people underestimate how important butterflies are, partly because they aren’t as “efficient” as bees, but efficiency isn’t the whole story. Butterflies pollinate during the day, in different weather conditions, and they cover distances in a way bees sometimes don’t. For example, in my town we had this meadow near the river, full of milkweed and thistles, and every summer the butterflies would be swarming there. A few years back, after some construction and pesticide spraying, their numbers dropped drastically. It was almost eerie—like the silence after birds leave. This is why many ecologists say butterflies are more than just pollinators—they’re environmental signals, little messengers telling us when something is wrong in the system. If anyone wants to dig into the science-y side of it, I found this page pretty useful in explaining the stages of their life cycle and how fragile they actually are: aviator download
. What’s scary but also hopeful is that when habitats are restored, butterfly numbers can rebound pretty fast, which shows they’re resilient, but only if we take care of the environment.

 

[eneria12]

I like how you put it, Leo—“little messengers.” That’s exactly how they feel in my garden. Some summers I see lots of them, some hardly any, and it always makes me wonder what changed that year. Maybe it’s the weather, or maybe something deeper in the ecosystem. Either way, I agree with both of you that they deserve way more attention in conversations about pollinators.