Here’s how to categorize the information:
What they found:
- The overall numbers of butterflies in Ohio have decreased year over year for the past two decades — about 2 percent each year. When the researchers compared that rate to other long-term studies, the general decline matched the results of monitoring programs in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain.
- There was a difference in how northern and southern Ohio butterflies were doing.
- The data from Ohio matched studies from other countries.
Why this matters:
- Insect decline can affect habitats.
- Changes in butterflies can signal larger environmental changes.
- But the team wanted to understand why some species of butterflies were harder-hit than others, and why some actually increased their populations over the course of the study.
(Note: The last bullet point is more about the research intention, and while it might straddle both sections, it primarily indicates why understanding the findings is important.)