Ecology and Vulnerability

Appalachian Grizzled Skipper

Insects, including lepidoptera, play an integral role in ecosystems as pollinators and food sources, and studying their interactions and indirect effects of climate change on them is critical (Harvey et al., 2022). Lepidoptera are extremely sensitive to changes in their environment and are being threatened by herbicides, insecticides, habitat loss, pollution, and direct and indirect effects of climate change (Wagner 2021). As ectotherms, climate change can be a major physiological stressor that can cause changes to misalignment with Lepidoptera host plant and emergence, shifts in range, behavior, development and more (Hellmann et al., 2016, Patterson et al., 2019). Species with longer developmental overwintering stages, narrower diets, or restricted ranges may be more at risk of decline or extinction due to changing temperatures and precipitation compared to generalist species (Patterson et al., 2019). Temperature increases have led to many species emerging earlier than host plants, with spring species advancing faster than summer species. Phenological mismatch can reduce survival due to emerging before their host plant or after the host plant senesces (Patterson et al., 2019). Early emergence of adult butterflies could mean limited nectar resource availability, and exposure to late snowstorms and freezing temperatures (Patterson et al., 2019). Asynchrony in some lepidoptera larvae has shown increased rates of parasitism and predation (including cannibalism) due to mismatched timing of host plant emergence and the butterfly’s life cycle (Despland 2018). Research on the effects of climate change on Lepidoptera species is still largely understudied and little is known about the response of many of the RCGN species listed above. More research is needed at both the fine scale and large scale, temporally and spatially.

References

Despland, E. (2018). Effects of phenological synchronization on caterpillar early-instar survival under a changing climate. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 48(3), 247–254.

Harvey, J. A. (2022). Scientists’ warning on climate change and insects. Ecological Monographs, 93(1).

Hellmann, J. J., Grundel, R., Hoving, C., & Schuurman, G. W. (2016). A call to insect scientists: Challenges and opportunities of managing insect communities under climate change. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 17, 92–97.

Patterson, T. A., Grundel, R., Dzurisin, J. D., Knutson, R. L., & Hellmann, J. J. (2019). Evidence of an extreme weather‐induced phenological mismatch and a local extirpation of the endangered Karner Blue butterfly. Conservation Science and Practice, 2(1).

Wagner, D. L. (2021). A window to the world of global insect declines: Moth biodiversity trends are complex and heterogeneous. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(2).