Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
demography.are.highly.correlated.with.current.or.incipient.responses.of.other.taxo-
nomic. groups. to. climate. change.. Most. attention. has. concentrated. on. species-level.
shifts.in.geographic.range.rather.than.patch-level.extirpation.events..Patchy.extirpa-
tions.are.important.even.if.they.do.not.have.a.clear.latitudinal.or.elevational.signal.
because.they.affect.probabilities.of.persistence.and.long-term.evolutionary.potential,.
especially.on.human-dominated.landscapes.with.barriers.to.movement.
Both.historically.(1880s.to.1940s).and.more.recently.(1970s.to.1990s),.mean.dates.
of. appearance. of. British. butterlies. were. associated. with. mean. air. temperatures.
(Sparks.and.Yates.1997)..Dates.of.appearance.of.more.than.150.species.of.moths.and.
butterlies.in.southern.England.in.the.late.1800s.were.positively.correlated.with.tem-
perature.in.October.of.the.previous.year.and.negatively.correlated.with.temperature.
in.spring.of.the.current.year.(Sparks.et.al..2006)..However,.even.when.phenology.is.
linked.with.temperature.across.a.butterly.fauna,.phenological.patterns.of.some.spe-
cies.may.not.track.spatial.gradients.in.climate.(Roy.and.Asher.2003).
Temperature. interacts. with. precipitation. to. determine. the. timing. of. snowmelt,.
with.which.emergence.of.arthropods.in.northeastern.Greenland.was.strongly.asso-
ciated.(Hoye.and.Forchhammer.2008)..In.that.region,.butterlies.emerged.during.a.
short. time. within. the. warmest. period. of. the. year. (Hoye. and. Forchhammer. 2008)..
Patterns.of.protandry.also.may.be.affected.by.apparent.responses.of.phenology.to.
shifts.in.climate..Decadal.increases.of.0.7-1.8°C.in.spring.temperature.in.Switzerland.
were.associated.with.earlier.emergence—9.days.per.decade.for.males,.and.12.days.
for.females—of.
Apatura iris
.(Dell.et.al..2005)..As.emergence.dates.of.males.and.
females.converge,.less.food.may.be.available.to.adult.males.(Dell.et.al..2005).
Many.studies.have.documented.expansions.in.the.geographic.ranges.of.individual.
species.of.butterlies.in.direct.and.indirect.response.to.climate.change..An.increase.in.
mean.annual.temperature.of.0.8-1.8°C.during.the.past.100.years.was.associated.with.
colonization. of. the. coastal. northwestern. United. States. by.
Atalopedes campestris
.
(Crozier.2004)..Among.migratory.lepidoptera,.annual.species.richness.at.a.site.in.the.
southern.United.Kingdom.was.correlated.positively.with.increases.in.temperature.at.
butterly.source.locations.in.southwestern.Europe.(Sparks.et.al..2007)..Menendez.et.
al..(2008).attributed.successful.northward.expansion.of.
Aricia agestis
.in.Britain.dur-
ing.the.last.30.years.to.lower.rates.of.parasitism.in.the.newly.colonized.locations.
The. ability. of. a. species. to. expand. its. geographical. range. often. is. related. to. its.
capacity. for. adaptation. through. either. evolution. or. phenotypic. plasticity..
Pararge
aegeria
. in. the. United. Kingdom. has. expanded. its. range. northward,. but. increases.
in. dispersal. rate. are. associated. with. decreases. in. reproductive. rate. (Hughes. et. al..
2003)..Northward.expansion.of.
Polygonia c-album
.in.the.United.Kingdom.appears.
to.be.supported.by.its.use.of.two.novel.host.plants.in.addition.to.a.traditional.host.
(Braschler.and.Hill.2007)..
A. agestis
.has.become.more.lexible.in.its.use.of.multiple.
host. plants,. and.
Hesperia comma
. in. its. use. of. microhabitats;. both. species. appear.
to.have.dispersed.across.vegetation.types.previously.thought.to.impede.movement.
(Thomas.et.al..2001).
Adaptation.in.butterlies.relects.responses.to.vegetation.structure.as.well.as.veg-
etation.composition..Davies.et.al..(2006).documented.a.shift.in.understory.attributes.
of.oviposition.neighborhoods.of.
H. comma
.that.may.be.related.to.regional.increases.
in. temperature.. The. temperature. of. host. plants. on. which. females. oviposited. also.
