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Species trends
The BMS provides information on short-term fluctuations and long-term trends in butterfly abundance, both at particular sites and more generally at a regional or national levels.
Trends in all species covered by the monitoring scheme can be explored on our Species pages .
A long-term trend showing a decline in abundance can often be attributed to widespread loss or fragmentation of suitable habitat. Specialised species with poor powers of dispersal tend to be most susceptible to such changes.
Conversely, a long-term trend showing an increase in abundance may be attributable to changing climatic conditions (for example generally warmer summer weather). More mobile species, or those whose habitat is widely available, tend display this kind of trend.
