Butterfly Plan I

Fangchao Bi

Artwork description:

On May 22, 2007, the United Nations declared that 75 species go extinct every day and three species go extinct every hour around the world. Butterfly species are an important indicator of global ecology, and in 2004, a scientific journal noted that over the past 40 years, the UK has seen a 54% decline in native bird species, a 28% decline in native wildlife species, and a 71% decline in native butterfly species. Insects, long considered to be diverse, abundant and resilient, are also beginning to face extinction. Meanwhile, in Australia, half of the 24 species of butterflies included in the study will disappear forever in the next few years. I grew up in a small town in China.

When I was young, I always found many butterflies in the garden and forest. But as I grew up slowly, I later left my hometown. Slowly, I could no longer see swarms of butterflies fluttering in the big cities built of steel and concrete and dirt. For a while I thought it was a common thing.

But when I went back to my hometown and found that it was also full of high-rise buildings, I realized that the butterflies might have left me. Later, I came from China to study in a small town in Germany. There were large forests in the city, and I saw many butterflies flying again in the summer. Unfortunately, there were still very few species of them. I tried to find and count the species in the forest, but I could only find 3 species.

So I started to look for information about butterflies on the Internet. Wikipedia's introduction to butterflies and insects states, "A decline in butterfly populations has been observed in many parts of the world, a phenomenon consistent with the rapid decline in insect populations around the world. "This is related to a variety of factors such as the destruction of vegetation, accelerated urbanization, and the increase in urban population. In urban construction, some of the original vegetation has been replaced by artificial vegetation, which is homogenous, and the majority of butterfly species have relatively fixed feeding habits.

This has led to a rapid decline in butterfly species despite the high coverage of artificial vegetation." The Butterfly Project is based on the integration of literature and real-time data to demonstrate in a visual way the impact of human development on species diversity. The project explores the threats and difficulties that species diversity faces today. The Papilio Chikae, a critically endangered species endemic to the Philippines, was chosen as the butterfly prototype for the project. It is also listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and its specimens have sold for as much as US$1,500. The collection and sale of specimens is strictly prohibited in the Philippines.