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A groundbreaking project has been launched to help protect one of the UK\u2019s most spectacular insects.<\/p>\n
The British Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon britannicus) is found exclusively in the county of East Anglia, predominantly in the Norfolk Broads, a national park veined with waterways. <\/p>\n
However, the insect\u2019s survival is threatened by habitat loss, climate change and genetic erosion due to its limited geographical range.<\/p>\n
Now researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) have joined forces with Jimmy\u2019s Farm & Wildlife Park and Nature’s SAFE, a UK biobank specialising in conservation, to investigate if cryopreservation can come to the aid of Britain\u2019s largest native butterfly.<\/p>\n
80 per cent of British butterflies have experienced population decline<\/p>\n
Since the 1970s, 80 per cent of the UK’s butterflies<\/strong><\/a> have declined in their abundance or distribution. <\/p>\n The British Swallowtail, a subspecies of the Old World Swallowtail, is classified as vulnerable on Great Britain\u2019s Red List. Its population has declined<\/strong><\/a> by 57 per cent in the last 20 years, although this decline has recently stabilised thanks to conservation efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough this has been an excellent summer for our native butterflies, the long-term picture for the British Swallowtail is one of decline,\u201d adds Dr Alvin Helden, a member of the Applied Ecology Research Group at ARU.<\/p>\n Jimmy\u2019s Farm & Wildlife Park houses a thriving captive population of Papilio machaon gorganus, a European subspecies of the Swallowtail. Genetically similar but far more abundant than the British Swallowtail, the eggs of these butterflies<\/strong><\/a> will serve as the model for the research.<\/p>\n Scientists to trial cryopreservation to save British butterfly<\/p>\n Researchers will assess the viability of the latest cryopreservation techniques, which involve freezing eggs in liquid nitrogen at -196\u00b0C. They will then attempt to rear butterflies from frozen eggs and compare their development and reproductive success with control groups of butterflies from non-frozen eggs.<\/p>\n \u201cCryopreservation is a promising tool for supporting conservation efforts, but we believe this is the first time it has been attempted with butterflies<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d says Helden.<\/p>\n If the method is effective, it is hoped that the eggs of the British Swallowtail can then be stored to support long-term conservation strategies, such as breeding programmes and reintroduction efforts.<\/p>\n