Only aggressive efforts to rein in global warming coupled with a rethinking of the British countryside will save many native species of butterfly, according to a study published Monday. ‘Widespread, drought-sensitive butterfly population extinction could occur as early as 2050,’ scientists reported in the journal Nature Climate Change. Under a business-as-usual scenario of continued greenhouse gas emissions, the odds that certain British Isles species will make it beyond mid-century are ‘around zero,’ the study concludes. Protecting wilderness areas — and especially reducing the fragmentation of natural habitats — would give some of these gossamer creatures at least a slim chance of survival. Such measures combined with a two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) cap on global warming would boost their odds to

Read More: Butterflies on the brink, scientists reported in the journal Nature Climate Change