Butterflies Need More Than Flowers to Survive: The Importance of Sizeable Spaces for Their Conservation

Butterflies are beautiful and colorful insects that can brighten up any garden or meadow. But did you know that they are also smart and capable of learning?

A new study by researchers from the University of Bristol and the University of Auckland has revealed that Heliconius butterflies, a tropical genus of butterflies from South and Central America, can remember where things are over sizeable spaces, such as food sources or mates.

The study provided the first experimental evidence of spatial learning in any butterfly or moth species.

How do butterflies learn spatial information?

(Photo : YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Spatial learning is the ability to acquire and use information about the location and arrangement of objects in the environment, as per Phys.org.

It is important for many animals, as it helps them find food, shelter, mates, and avoid predators.

This ability is well-known in insects, such as bees and ants, that live in social groups and have a central nest.

However, little is known about spatial learning in butterflies or moths, which are mostly solitary and nomadic.

The researchers decided to test the spatial learning abilities of Heliconius butterflies, which have evolved a unique foraging behavior among butterflies: feeding on pollen.

Pollen is a rich and long-lasting source of protein for these butterflies, but it is also scarce and patchy.

Therefore, Heliconius butterflies need to learn the location of reliable pollen sources and return to them repeatedly over consecutive days.

This behavior is called traplining, and it is similar to the behavior of some bees and hummingbirds.

The researchers conducted spatial learning experiments with Heliconius butterflies over three spatial scales that represent different aspects of their natural foraging behavior.

First, they tested if the butterflies could learn the location of a food reward in a grid of 16 artificial flowers, which represents foraging within a single patch of flowers.

Second, they tested if the butterflies could learn to associate food with either the left or right side of a two-armed maze, which represents choosing between two patches of flowers.

Then, they tested if the butterflies could learn the location of food in a large outdoor T-shaped maze, which represents foraging between different locations.

Also Read: Scientists Trace Butterfly Evolutionary History Using DNA Advances 

What did the researchers find out?

The results showed that Heliconius butterflies can learn spatial information at all three scales, as per Popular Science.

The butterflies were able to remember where the food reward was in the grid of flowers, and they preferred to visit the same side of the two-armed maze where they had previously found food.

The butterflies were also able to navigate the outdoor T-shaped maze and find the food reward at one end of it.

The results suggested that Heliconius butterflies have a remarkable capacity for spatial learning, which may help them optimize their foraging efficiency and fitness.

Heliconius butterflies can learn spatial information at large scales of up to tens of meters, according to the study's findings, which is consistent with their natural traplining behavior.

Moreover, the study revealed that complex cognitive abilities, such as spatial learning, may be more widespread in insects than previously thought.

It also implied that ecological factors, such as diet and habitat, may influence the evolution of spatial learning in different animal groups.

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