But when things really heat up, they adjust their body temperature in relation to the air temperature through strategies called thermal buffering and thermal tolerance. Thermal buffering includes physical acts like moving into a cooler, shadier area or slanting wings out of the direct path of sunlight. “These are molecules that many animals, butterflies and humans included, produce to protect themselves from high temperatures,” Ashe-Jepson said. For the thermal buffering test, the researchers caught, tested and released 1,334 butterflies representing 54 species from six butterfly families. To test thermal tolerance, a smaller group of the captured butterflies was put to work one more time.

---

Persons: —, ”, Esme Ashe, Jepson, ” Ashe, “, Ashe, Akito Kawahara, they’ll, ” Kawahara Organizations: CNN, University of Cambridge, Smithsonian Tropical Research, McGuire, University of Florida Locations: United Kingdom, Panama, Biodiversity, Gainesville