Cambridge 19 | Test 4 | Passage 1

The impact of climate change on butterflies in Britain

According toconservationists, populations of around two thirds of butterflyspecies havedeclined in Britain over the past 40 years. If this trend continues, it might have unpredictable knock-on effects for other species in the ecosystem. Butterfly eggs develop into caterpillars and these insects, which are the second stage in a new butterfly’s lifecycle, consume vast quantities of plant material, and in turn act as prey for birds as well as bats and other small mammals. Only by arming themselves with an understanding of why butterfly numbers are down can conservationists hope to halt or reserve the decline.

conservationist (noun) [countable]

/ˌkɑːnsərˈveɪʃənɪst/

someone who works to protect the environment from the damaging effects of human activity

e.g., Conservationists are fighting to save the tiger.

species (noun) [countable]

/ˈspiːʃiːz/

/ˈspiː.siːz/

a set of animals or plants in which the members have similar characteristics to each other and can breed with each other

e.g., Mountain gorillas are an endangered species.

decline (verb) [intransitive]

/dɪˈklaɪn/

to gradually become less, worse, or lower

e.g., The animal's numbers are declining rapidly.