Moving painted butterfly with the environment driven

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Every year, painted Lady butter Free (Vanessakardui) moves thousands of kilometers between Africa and Europe for appropriate breeding conditions. New studies, including researchers from the Austrian Science and Technology Research Institute (ISTA), suggest that the various travel distance of butterflies is affected by environmental factors, not genetic differences. The survey results published in PNAS Nexus provide insights on the mechanism that forms insects.

Gradually long -distance travel

The painted lady butter follows the multi -generation moving cycle. The journey begins in the northwestern part of Africa and is flying to Europe across the Mediterranean. The subsequent generation continues to move north and reach Sweden before returning to the south in the fall. Some butterflies have completed a complete journey to Africa south of Sahara, and other butterflies remain in the Mediterranean.

In order to investigate factors that affect these mobile routes, researchers collected butterflies from multiple places, including Benin, Senegal, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, and Malta. Using isotopic analysis, they tracked the geographical origin of each butterfly and revealed various mobile actions.

The isotophone analysis reveals the movement pattern

Researchers have applied an isotoped geolocation, which is a method of linking to an environment in which the isotope composition of living things has been developed. The butterfly wings hold the signing of the isotope of the plants consumed as caterpillars, so this technology could estimate their hometown.

Cotton geolocation

A method used to determine the geographical origin of living things by analyzing the isotope composition of the tissue. The isotope is a mutant of a chemical element with different atomic mass, and the distribution in the environment differs for each region.

Some butterflies traveled long distances throughout the Sahara, but other butterflies stayed in the Mediterranean region. Despite these differences in travel behavior, genomic sequence has revealed that there is no genetic fluctuation of short -range immigrants and long -distance immigrants.

The signal of the environment forms a movement

Unlike several bird species that a specific genetic variant affect the mobile route, the painted lady butterfly seems to be dependent on the environment. Researchers suggest expression type plasticity – The ability of living things that change behavior according to external conditions – It plays an important role.

Expressive plasticity
The ability of organisms to adjust their behavior, appearance, or physiology according to environmental conditions without changing the genetic code according to environmental conditions.

For example, Sweden butterflies are rapidly shortened at the end of summer, so they may be prompted to move south under the clue of strong movement. In contrast, southern European butterflies may not experience the same environmental trigger, leading to a shorter distance.

Expansion of knowledge about the movement of butterfly

The migration of a painted woman's butterfly is not understood more than other species, such as the monarch's butterfly. In future research, we will find out whether these discoveries are applied to a wider group of women who have been painted or to other insects with complex migratory patterns.

See: REICH MS, SHIPILINA D, TALLA V, Others Vanessa Cardui's isotope geolocation and group genomics: Short -distance and long -distance immigrants are genetically undifferentiated. PNAS NEXUS. 2025; 4 (2): PGAE586. Doi: 10.1093/PNASNEXUS/PGAE586

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