diff --git a/src/cats/threading/threading-helpers.c b/src/cats/threading/threading-helpers.c
index d8009004dc0cb11c55d18682252372d393429b9d..cec0929529e3cca009a1f28074d8495538488acc 100644
--- a/src/cats/threading/threading-helpers.c
+++ b/src/cats/threading/threading-helpers.c
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ initialize_thread(struct cats_thread_info *thread, struct cats_grid *grid, struc
                 zero_statistics_stats(&thread->stats[i]);
         }
 
-        thread->temp = 0;
+        thread->temp_adults_present = 0;
         thread->temp1 = 0;
         thread->temp2 = 0;
         thread->seed = get_random_seed(false);
diff --git a/src/cats/threading/threading.h b/src/cats/threading/threading.h
index c025c7898cd7740de0c9c67d9d7ce3774b2b6d10..b701601f5b6343f779f28535c970c5144393b7bd 100644
--- a/src/cats/threading/threading.h
+++ b/src/cats/threading/threading.h
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ struct cats_thread_info {
         struct cats_configuration *conf;
         gsl_rng *rng;
         unsigned int rng_seed;
-        int64_t temp;
+        int64_t temp_adults_present;
         int64_t temp1;
         int64_t temp2;
         char *rng_state_buffer;
diff --git a/src/modules/butterflies/butterflies_actions.c b/src/modules/butterflies/butterflies_actions.c
index 795eed9312e185131b4880ffcf8922301ff04e5d..cd3b954c5e7839930e9bc6609df8f961877fa080 100644
--- a/src/modules/butterflies/butterflies_actions.c
+++ b/src/modules/butterflies/butterflies_actions.c
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ void grid_butterflies_maturation(struct cats_grid *grid, struct cats_thread_info
         const cats_dt_coord start_col = ts->area.start_col;
         const cats_dt_coord end_col = ts->area.end_col;
 
-        ts->temp = 0;
+        ts->temp_adults_present = 0;
         for (cats_dt_coord row = start_row; row < end_row; row++) {
                 for (cats_dt_coord col = start_col; col < end_col; col++) {
 
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ void butterflies_area_dispersal(struct cats_grid *grid, struct cats_thread_info
         const cats_dt_coord start_col = ts->area.start_col;
         const cats_dt_coord end_col = ts->area.end_col;
 
-        ts->temp = 0;
+        ts->temp_adults_present = 0;
         ts->temp1 = 0;
         ts->temp2 = 0;
 
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ void butterflies_area_dispersal(struct cats_grid *grid, struct cats_thread_info
                         butterflies_cell_dispersal(grid, ts, row, col, false);
                 }
         }
-        if (ts->temp)   printf("thread %d: %ld random walks (%ld cells) avg %f\n", ts->id, ts->temp, ts->temp1, (float) ts->temp / (float) ts->temp1);
+        if (ts->temp_adults_present)   printf("thread %d: %ld random walks (%ld cells) avg %f\n", ts->id, ts->temp_adults_present, ts->temp1, (float) ts->temp_adults_present / (float) ts->temp1);
 
 
 }
diff --git a/src/modules/butterflies/butterflies_dispersal.c b/src/modules/butterflies/butterflies_dispersal.c
index 6cd103477c7baac8e1d4542fb1b13f63a8f00bc8..ec65d61d21e9ba193612c0614452d36ab02c83a9 100644
--- a/src/modules/butterflies/butterflies_dispersal.c
+++ b/src/modules/butterflies/butterflies_dispersal.c
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ butterflies_cell_dispersal(struct cats_grid *grid, struct cats_thread_info *ts,
         // total adults: the number of adults that became adult in this cell, possibly exceeding the carrying capacity (thanks to poisson processes)
         const cats_dt_population total_adults = get_adult_population(grid, row, col);
         if (total_adults == 0) return;
-        ts->temp++;
+        ts->temp_adults_present++;
         struct conf_data_butterflies *module_conf = CATS_MODULE_DATA;
         // total females: how many of the total adults are female, as drawn from a binomial distribution with p = 0.5
         // can be safely cast, because gsl_ran_binomial will return a number <= total_adults