Short Winters Throw Ecosystems out of Whack

It seems that for some insects, early spring has meant more than just the early blooming of flowers. The effects of global warming on our seasons seem to have thrown the phases of some insects completely out of whack.

The Mormon fritillary butterfly for one, is completely dependent on the cold to support the species' population. As the days of winter decrease, however, the population of this delicate butterfly has begun to dwindle. Another insect, the deer tick, while having been no worry to dogs and humans in past winters, now seem to have abandoned its typical winter resting habit, and people are finding these pests apparent much earlier in the year.

From solardarkroom.com

I find it very interesting how the two articles in the New York Times -- one about the tick problem and the other about the decrease in butterfly numbers -- go about the discussion of global climate change. The butterfly story, written by author Josie Garthwaite, seems to do a fuller job of displaying the human impact. Part of the first sentence, "Early snow melts caused by climate change could deliver a mighty one-two punch to the delicate Mormon fritillary butterfly," states the problem fairly plainly: the climate change is causing these butterflies to die. That being said, there is nothing in the article about why there is climate change, or how people could help to prevent the decrease of this lovely insect.


The tick article, written by Karen Ann Cullotta, does an even poorer job of displaying the human impact part of the story, saying absolutely nothing about why the weather is so warm this early in the year, and how human beings have contributed greatly to that. The story focuses solely on how pesky these ticks are, and how they seem to be affecting people and animals all year round, while in the past they were only present in the spring through fall seasons.

From National Geographic

While it seems that these stories were not intended to give people an understanding of what global warming and global climate change are and mean, I think that these topics are critical to each story's focus, and their lack of mention is an injustice to the reader. Both pieces are about changes in our environment, but neither takes the time to explain why these changes are occurring. Why is the beautiful Mormon fritillary butterfly population starting to dwindle? We are told that it is because snow is melting earlier in the year, but why is that? Why are people's dogs being infected with Lyme Disease in the middle of March, long before ticks are supposed to be an issue? We are told it is because winters are getting shorter, but why is that? These articles are interesting, and they get across the problems involving these two species, but neither really goes into why these changes are occurring, and what  can be done to deal with them.


Both pieces are well-written and use good sources, but in my opinion they are each missing information that is both vital to the story and also deserved by the reader.


Read these articles at: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/us/a-mild-winter-means-a-longer-tick-season.html?ref=animals#
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/a-spring-sprung-too-soon-is-death-blow-to-butterfly/?scp=6&sq=environment&st=cse