Flourishing

Wellcome Connecting Science | Graphic | Curious Nature

The species in this category are ones that are on the up. Once restricted to saltmarshes, the chirp of Roesel’s bush-cricket can now be heard in many parts of England. Is its tolerance to salt helping it to spread? The yellow heads of Oxford ragwort are a familiar sight from train windows. How has this non-native species become so established?

By analysing the genomes of these flourishing species researchers hope to discover how they may have adapted to do so well. For example, numbers of the Ringlet butterfly have increased around 400% in the last 50 years, whereas many other UK butterflies have declined.