The Fluctuating Asymmetry of the Butterfly Wing Pattern Does Not Change along an Industrial Pollution Gradient

• Published in: Symmetry
• Main Authors: Vitali Zverev, Mikhail V. Kozlov
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2021
• Subjects: copper-nickel smelter; fluctuating asymmetry; Kola Peninsula; Lepidoptera; phenotypic stress responses; wing length; Monchegorsk; kola peninsula
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13040626

The rapid and selective responses to changes in habitat structure and climate have made butterflies valuable environmental indicators. In this study, we asked whether the decline in butterfly populations near the copper-nickel smelter in Monchegorsk in northwestern Russia is accompanied by phenotypi...