There was a recent paper in Science about butterfly declines in the United states from 2000-2020. The data comes from >76,000 surveys from 35 different monitoring programs. I dug a little deeper into the trends in the Southeast. I figured I’d share some of the things that I found interesting. Apologies to folks in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Virginia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, because the paper’s “Southeast” region didn’t include those states and territories. It did include most SECAS states, though!

Overall trends in the Southeast

• Butterflies declined by 4.8% from 2000-2020. That’s 0.25% decline every year.

Signs of conservation impact

• Monarch populations increased by 47% from 2000-2020. As many of you know, there have been major efforts to bring back monarchs over that period.

Species-specific trends in the Southeast

Scientific name	Common name	Trend	Cumulative change (2000 - 2020)
Poanes yehl	Yehl Skipper	declining	-97.61%
Danaus eresimus	Soldier	declining	-90.99%
Brephidium isophthalma	Eastern Pygmy-Blue	declining	-90.93%
Speyeria diana	Diana Fritillary	declining	-90.29%
Satyrium favonius	Oak Hairstreak	declining	-89.66%
Nymphalis antiopa	Mourning Cloak	declining	-86.81%
Pholisora catullus	Common Sootywing	declining	-83.02%
Euphyes berryi	Berry's Skipper	declining	-79.74%
Euphyes pilatka	Palatka Skipper	declining	-78.04%
Staphylus hayhurstii	Hayhurst's Scallopwing	declining	-74.39%
Speyeria cybele	Great Spangled Fritillary	declining	-72.59%
Colias eurytheme	Orange Sulphur	declining	-72.21%
Colias philodice	Clouded Sulphur	declining	-71.97%
Satyrium calanus	Banded Hairstreak	declining	-71.09%
Thorybes confusis	Confused Cloudywing	declining	-70.63%
Satyrium titus	Coral Hairstreak	declining	-68.61%
Atlides halesus	Great Purple Hairstreak	declining	-68.50%
Euphyes arpa	Palmetto Skipper	declining	-67.95%
Electrostrymon angelia	Fulvous Hairstreak	declining	-66.40%
Vanessa virginiensis	American Lady	declining	-64.07%
Vanessa atalanta	Red Admiral	declining	-63.27%
Polites origenes	Crossline Skipper	declining	-62.63%
Parrhasius m-album	White M Hairstreak	declining	-62.62%
Megisto cymela	Little Wood-Satyr	declining	-61.79%
Polygonus leo	Hammock Skipper	possibly declining	-61.17%
Thorybes bathyllus	Southern Cloudywing	declining	-57.90%
Pieris rapae	Cabbage White	declining	-56.34%
Calephelis virginiensis	Little Metalmark	declining	-53.32%
Calycopis cecrops	Red-banded Hairstreak	declining	-51.05%
Polygonia comma	Eastern Comma	declining	-49.83%
Erynnis zarucco	Zarucco Duskywing	declining	-49.65%
Euptoieta claudia	Variegated Fritillary	declining	-48.73%
Erynnis baptisiae	Wild Indigo Duskywing	declining	-47.71%
Pontia protodice	Checkered White	declining	-46.69%
Enodia creola	Creole Pearly-eye	possibly declining	-46.36%
Battus polydamas	Polydamas Swallowtail	declining	-46.13%
Cercyonis pegala	Common Wood-Nymph	declining	-44.26%
Atalopedes campestris	Sachem	declining	-44.17%
Marpesia petreus	Ruddy Daggerwing	declining	-44.05%
Vanessa cardui	Painted Lady	declining	-43.96%
Polygonia interrogationis	Question Mark	declining	-42.95%
Cyllopsis gemma	Gemmed Satyr	declining	-41.99%
Amblyscirtes aesculapius	Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper	declining	-41.56%
Limenitis archippus	Viceroy	declining	-40.14%
Asterocampa clyton	Tawny Emperor	declining	-38.83%
Pyrgus communis	Common Checkered-Skipper	declining	-36.99%
Papilio palamedes	Palamedes Swallowtail	declining	-36.99%
Polites vibex	Whirlabout	declining	-32.70%
Epargyreus clarus	Silver-spotted Skipper	declining	-31.22%
Strymon melinus	Gray Hairstreak	declining	-30.06%
Hermeuptychia sosybius	Carolina Satyr	declining	-29.46%
Lerodea eufala	Eufala Skipper	possibly declining	-26.39%
Papilio polyxenes	Black Swallowtail	declining	-26.34%
Papilio cresphontes	Giant Swallowtail	declining	-25.33%
Phyciodes tharos	Pearl Crescent	possibly declining	-20.46%
Papilio troilus	Spicebush Swallowtail	declining	-19.95%
Lerema accius	Clouded Skipper	possibly increasing	23.91%
Agraulis vanillae	Gulf Fritillary	increasing	32.50%
Leptotes cassius	Cassius Blue	possibly increasing	41.96%
Danaus plexippus	Monarch	increasing	47.18%
Phoebis sennae	Cloudless Sulphur	increasing	49.89%
Poanes zabulon	Zabulon Skipper	increasing	53.21%
Phyciodes phaon	Phaon Crescent	increasing	64.61%
Thorybes pylades	Northern Cloudywing	increasing	65.21%
Eurytides marcellus	Zebra Swallowtail	increasing	67.16%
Panoquina ocola	Ocola Skipper	increasing	67.62%
Eurema lisa	Little Yellow	increasing	77.07%
Heliconius charithonia	Zebra Heliconian	increasing	91.33%
Nathalis iole	Dainty Sulphur	increasing	92.65%
Anaea andria	Goatweed Leafwing	increasing	99.38%
Dryas iulia	Julia Heliconian	increasing	111.23%
Chlosyne nycteis	Silvery Checkerspot	increasing	132.68%
Junonia evarete	Mangrove Buckeye	increasing	145.27%
Eurema daira	Barred Yellow	increasing	171.08%
Ascia monuste	Great Southern White	increasing	208.73%
Anartia jatrophae	White Peacock	increasing	248.96%
Strymon istapa	Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak	increasing	301.31%
Hemiargus ceraunus	Ceraunus Blue	increasing	314.60%
Erynnis funeralis	Funereal Duskywing	increasing	343.31%
Boloria bellona	Meadow Fritillary	possibly increasing	397.03%