Has the currently warming climate affected populations of the mountain ringlet butterfly, Erebia epiphron (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), in low-elevation mountains?

Konvička, Martin; Beneš, Jiří; Čížek, Oldřich; Kuras, Tomáš; Klečková, Irena

doi:10.14411/eje.2016.036

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In other species, northern populations may have a prolonged multi‐seasonal larval development, where immatures reach more advanced stages before the last overwintering (e.g. some Erebia Dalman, 1816 (Konvička et al ), or the checkerspot Euphydryas maturna (Wahlberg )). Other adaptations for short‐season environments might be found by studying life‐history details of southerly and northerly situated populations of identical species (Bowden et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climate changes influence, in addition to the distribution of species on Earth (Parmesan ; Devictor et al ), seasonal patterns of species occurrence, or phenology (Parmesan & Yohe ; Cohen et al, ). In insects with rapid life cycles and discrete generations, such as temperate and cold zones butterflies, the responses include an increased number of generations with a prolonged season (Yamamura & Kiritani ; Barton & Terblanche ), shifts of activity towards an earlier time of year in warmer climates (Høye et al ; Bell et al ), prolonging an activity period (Zografou et al ; Konvicka et al ) or an earlier termination of activity with a shortened season (Lewins ; Shapiro ). Studies attempting to predict latitudinal or altitudinal range shifts typically assume that species will mechanically follow suitable climates, speeding‐up development with climatic warming, but only rarely consider phenological aspects of such developments (Chen et al ; Cohen et al ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phenology responses of temperate butterflies to latitude depend on ecological traits

2019

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Global change influences species’ seasonal occurrence, or phenology. In cold‐adapted insects, the activity is expected to start earlier with a warming climate, but contradictory evidence exists, and the reactions may be linked to species‐specific traits. Using data from the GBIF database, we selected 105 single‐brooded Holarctic butterflies inhabiting broad latitudinal ranges. We regressed patterns of an adult flight against latitudes of the records, controlling for altitude and year effects. Species with delayed flight periods towards the high latitudes, or stable flight periods across latitudes, prevailed over those that advanced their flight towards the high latitudes. The responses corresponded with the species’ seasonality (flight of early season species was delayed and flight of summer species was advanced at high latitudes) and oceanic vs. continental climatic niches (delays in oceanic, stability in continental species). Future restructuring of butterfly seasonal patterns in high latitudes will reflect climatic niches, and hence the evolutionary history of participating species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenology responses of temperate butterflies to latitude depend on ecological traits

2019

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“…There is much evidence that temperate butterflies become active later annually at higher elevations (de Arce Crespo & Gutiérrez, 2011;Illán, Gutiérrez, Díez, & Wilson, 2012;Merrill et al, 2008;Shapiro, 1975). In addition, there is evidence that climate warming has led to both earlier appearance and extension of the flight period at high elevations (Konvička, Beneš, Čížek, Kuras, & Klečková, 2016). In this paper, using space-for-time inferences we frame phenological responses to climate change in a biota which lacks long-term data.…”

Section: Information On Species' Ecological and Life-history Traits Hasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dots correspond to the mean date of a species per sampling site (Erebia epiphron) in Czech Republic over the last decades(Konvička et al, 2016). Dots correspond to the mean date of a species per sampling site (Erebia epiphron) in Czech Republic over the last decades(Konvička et al, 2016).…”

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Butterfly phenology in Mediterranean mountains using space‐for‐time substitution

Zografou

Grill

Wilson

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Inferring species' responses to climate change in the absence of long-term time series data is a challenge, but can be achieved by substituting space for time. For example, thermal elevational gradients represent suitable proxies to study phenological responses to warming. We used butterfly data from two Mediterranean mountain areas to test whether mean dates of appearance of communities and individual species show a delay with increasing altitude, and an accompanying shortening in the duration of flight periods. We found a 14-day delay in the mean date of appearance per kilometer increase in altitude for butterfly communities overall, and an average 23day shift for 26 selected species, alongside average summer temperature lapse rates of 3°C per km. At higher elevations, there was a shortening of the flight period for the community of 3 days/km, with an 8.8-day average decline per km for individual species. Rates of phenological delay differed significantly between the two mountain ranges, although this did not seem to result from the respective temperature lapse rates. These results suggest that climate warming could lead to advanced and lengthened flight periods for Mediterranean mountain butterfly communities. However, although multivoltine species showed the expected response of delayed and shortened flight periods at higher elevations, univoltine species showed more pronounced delays in terms of species appearance. Hence, while projections of overall community responses to climate change may benefit from space-for-time substitutions, understanding species-specific responses to local features of habitat and climate may be needed to accurately predict the effects of climate change on phenology. K E Y W O R D Schanging climate, developmental delay, elevational gradient, emergence time, flight period S U PP O RTI N G I N FO R M ATI O NAdditional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section.

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Vegetation composition and structure are important predictors of oviposition site selection in an alpine butterfly, the Mountain Ringlet Erebia epiphron

et al. 2020

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Knowledge of species' ecological requirements is key for designing effective conservation management. In butterflies, the needs of larval stages are often the most specialised part of 2 the life cycle, but for many species information on this is lacking. The Mountain Ringlet Erebia epiphron is a cold-adapted butterfly found in alpine grasslands in mountainous regions of Europe. Efforts to devise conservation strategies for this climate changethreatened species are hampered due to its basic ecology being poorly understood. Here, we describe a study on the autecology of Mountain Ringlets across its British distribution, focusing on the habitat preferences of egg-laying females as a proxy for larval preferences.Female Mountain Ringlets placed their eggs predominantly on Nardus stricta and Festuca ovina, but also on several other host plant species, suggesting larvae may be more broadly polyphagous than previously realised. Sites chosen for eggs had higher abundance of larval host plants, intermediate leaf litter cover, and lower cover of grass tussocks than random locations, as well as a shorter and sparser grass sward. Although the main host plant is ubiquitous in upland areas of Britain, our findings suggest that this butterfly's egg and larval stages have specialised ecological requirements, requiring specific microhabitat features characterised by a narrow range of vegetation composition and structural characteristics.Many habitat associations are liable to be explicable as adaptations to ensure placement of eggs and larvae in sites within optimal (warm or buffered) microclimates. We tentatively suggest that the distribution of Mountain Ringlets in the landscape is thermally-constrained.

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Has the currently warming climate affected populations of the mountain ringlet butterfly, Erebia epiphron (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), in low-elevation mountains?

Cited by 20 publications

References 47 publications

Phenology responses of temperate butterflies to latitude depend on ecological traits

Phenology responses of temperate butterflies to latitude depend on ecological traits

Butterfly phenology in Mediterranean mountains using space‐for‐time substitution

Vegetation composition and structure are important predictors of oviposition site selection in an alpine butterfly, the Mountain Ringlet Erebia epiphron

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