Butterfly populations plummet by 22% in US since turn of century

This mirrors the long term trend for almost all insect populations, globally. Think of the impact on everything that eats insects; they're the base of the Animalia food web. It's not an exaggeration to say we're watching the early stages of a mass extinction unless this trend reverses sharply.

Every time I read titles written like this I think to myself do you really have accurate data from that long ago to make this statement with confidence. Then it hits me that yes they do because it really wasn't that long ago and I'm now just old.