There are fewer butterflies in Houston skies

• A combination of climate change, pesticide use and habitat loss — land is converted for agriculture or development — could be responsible for their declining populations, the New York Times reports from a new study.

State of play: The study found that 106 of the 144 butterfly species found in the Houston area are decreasing nationally, but it's unclear how their numbers have shifted locally.

• 22 species are increasing in population, and 16 have had little change.

The big picture: Researchers analyzed 12.6 million individual butterflies across 35 monitoring programs from 2000 to 2020.

• They found that the U.S. has lost 22% of its butterflies in the last 20 years.
• "The loss that we're seeing over such a short time is really alarming. Unless we change things, we're in for trouble," Elise Zipkin, a quantitative ecologist and one of the study's authors, told the New York Times.

Case in point: Several butterfly species found in Houston are declining nationwide — Turk's-cap White-Skipper is down 87%, Lyside Sulphur has dropped 97% and Southern Cloudywing has decreased by 61%.

What they're saying: There are plenty of butterfly species "that are in decline and their host plant keeps disappearing, so their decline might be happening a lot more rapidly than monarchs because it's like everybody in the world is trying to plant milkweed for monarchs," Erin Mills with the Houston Botanic Garden tells Axios.

Pro tip: If you are planting a butterfly garden, include pesticide-free nectar and host plants, Mills says.

• Butterflies need nectar from the flowers, and caterpillars need food and a place to lay their eggs.
• The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has resources to help decide which plants to plant.

Meanwhile, Houston Botanic Gardens is hosting a March for Monarchs on Saturday as the butterflies migrate north. While they're in Houston most of the year, March is a key time for their journey

• The event will recreate conditions along their spring migration route from Mexico to their summer breeding grounds in the northern U.S.