Quick Spreading of Populations of an Exotic Firefly throughout Spain and Their Recent Arrival in the French Pyrenees

Koken, Marcel; Guzmán-Álvarez, José Ramón; Gil‐Tapetado, Diego; Bedate, Miguel Angel Romo Romo; Laurent, Geneviève; Rubio, Lucas Ezequiel; Comas, Segimon Rovira Rovira; Wolffler, Nicole; Verfaillie, Fabien; Cock, Raphaël De

doi:10.3390/insects13020148

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Fireflies are compelling subjects, and numerous community science projects have focused on Lampyridae (see Supplementary Table S2). Observations submitted by community scientists in Europe have helped to create and refine firefly species checklists in Spain [77]; Flanders, Belgium [78]; and Croatia [79,80] and have aided in tracking range expansion of the introduced firefly Photinus signaticollis through Spain and France [81]. In Hong Kong, a firefly Survey Team established in 2020 has systematically gathered data on firefly distributions and abundances.…”

Section: Community Science Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Illuminating Firefly Diversity: Trends, Threats and Conservation Strategies

Lewis,

Jusoh,

Walker

et al. 2024

Insects

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Fireflies are a diverse group of bioluminescent beetles belonging to the family Lampyridae. Recent research on their diversity, evolution, behavior and conservation has greatly advanced our scientific understanding of these charismatic insects. In this review, we first summarize new discoveries about their taxonomic and ecological diversity, then focus on recent endeavors to identify and protect threatened fireflies around the world. We outline the main threats linked to recent population declines (habitat loss and degradation, light pollution, pesticide overuse, climate change and tourism) and describe relevant risk factors that predict which species will be particularly vulnerable to these threats. Although global coordination of firefly conservation efforts has begun only recently, considerable progress has already been made. We describe work by the IUCN SSC Firefly Specialist Group to identify species currently facing elevated extinction risks and to devise conservation strategies to protect them. To date, IUCN Red List assessments have been completed for 150 firefly taxa, about 20% of which face heightened extinction risks. The conservation status for many species has yet to be determined due to insufficient information, although targeted surveys and community science projects have contributed valuable new data. Finally, we highlight some examples of successful firefly habitat protection and restoration efforts, and we use the framework of the IUCN SSC Species Conservation Cycle to point out high-priority actions for future firefly conservation efforts.

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Section: Community Science Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Illuminating Firefly Diversity: Trends, Threats and Conservation Strategies

Lewis,

Jusoh,

Walker

et al. 2024

Insects

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“…Despite the importance of some insect species as agricultural pests or disease vectors, their monitoring is generally not a high priority for governmental administrations. Citizen science platforms such as Biodiversidad Virtual, Observation (https:// observation.org), and iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org), however, have proven highly useful for gathering up-to-date, expert-validated information on species introduced into a new territory, and can serve as monitoring systems that can be used by both academic researchers carrying out scientific studies and policymakers responsible for implementing health and environmental measures [55][56][57][58].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change as a driver of insect invasions: Dispersal patterns of a dragonfly species colonizing a new region

Gil-Tapetado,

López-Collar,

Gómez

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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The dragonfly Trithemis kirbyi Sélys, 1891 recently colonized Western Europe from North Africa. Since its first record in the Iberian Peninsula in 2007, the species has been spreading northward and has become naturally established in the central and eastern Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands and southern France. Despite its worldwide distribution, its rapid colonization of the western Mediterranean area occurred only very recently. The aims of this study were to evaluate (1) whether the species’ colonization of the western Mediterranean is related to climate change and rising temperatures, specifically the summer warming peaks that have occurred in the last decade, (2) which climatic variables have most influenced its distribution and dispersal, and (3) its potential future dispersal and colonization capacity towards the eastern Mediterranean. We found that the dispersal and recent establishment of T. kirbyi in southwestern Europe strongly depends on increasing temperatures, particularly summer temperature peaks, which has allowed this species to disperse farther and more effectively than during years with average summer temperatures. The most important variable in the suitability models is the minimum temperature of the coldest month, which, in recent decades, has become less of a limiting factor for ectotherms. According to the models, suitable areas for the species are currently found throughout the eastern Mediterranean parts of Europe, and it is likely that it can naturally colonize these areas as it did in the Iberian Peninsula. Trithemis kirbyi is a model of how climate change and observed rising temperatures have turned previously inhospitable regions into suitable areas for exotic species, which may successfully colonize them naturally if they can reach these promising lands on their own. However, this study serves as a warning that such species can also colonize these new regions with a little help from unsuspecting means, which are often responsible for the increasingly common presence of invasive, noxious taxa in Europe.

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“…Despite the importance of some insect species as agricultural pests or disease vectors, their monitoring is generally not a high priority for governmental administrations. Citizen science platforms such as Biodiversidad Virtual, Observation (https://observation.org), and iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org), however, have proven highly useful for gathering up-to-date, expert-validated information on species introduced into a new territory, and can serve as monitoring systems that can be used by both academic researchers carrying out scienti c studies and policymakers responsible for implementing health and environmental measures (Hiller, Haelewaters 2019;Koken et al 2022;Oberhauser, Prysby 2008; Sesma Moranas, Gil-Tapetado 2020).…”

Section: Colonization Of An Exotic Species Driven By Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change as a driver of insect invasions: Dispersal patterns of a dragonfly species colonizing a new region

Gil‐Tapetado

López-Collar

Gómez

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The dragonfly Trithemis kirbyi Sélys, 1891 recently colonized Western Europe from North Africa. Since its first record in the Iberian Peninsula in 2007, the species has been spreading northward and has become naturally established in the central and eastern Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands and southern France. Despite its worldwide distribution, its rapid colonization of the western Mediterranean area occurred only very recently. We found that the dispersal and recent establishment of T. kirbyi in southwestern Europe strongly depends on increasing temperatures, particularly summer temperature peaks, which has allowed this species to disperse farther and more effectively than during years with average summer temperatures. The most important variable in the suitability models is the minimum temperature of the coldest month, which, in recent decades, has become less of a limiting factor for ectotherms. According to the models, suitable areas for the species are currently found throughout the eastern Mediterranean parts of Europe, and it is likely that it can naturally colonize these areas as it did in the Iberian Peninsula. Trithemis kirbyi is a model of how climate change and observed rising temperatures have turned previously inhospitable regions into suitable areas for exotic species, which may successfully colonize them naturally if they can reach these promising lands on their own. However, this study serves as a warning that such species can also colonize these new regions with a little help from unsuspecting ‘friends’, which are often responsible for the increasingly common presence of invasive, noxious taxa in Europe.

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Quick Spreading of Populations of an Exotic Firefly throughout Spain and Their Recent Arrival in the French Pyrenees

Cited by 8 publications

References 32 publications

Illuminating Firefly Diversity: Trends, Threats and Conservation Strategies

Illuminating Firefly Diversity: Trends, Threats and Conservation Strategies

Climate change as a driver of insect invasions: Dispersal patterns of a dragonfly species colonizing a new region

Climate change as a driver of insect invasions: Dispersal patterns of a dragonfly species colonizing a new region

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