Rapid responses of British butterflies to opposing forces of climate and habitat change

Abstract

Habitat degradation and climate change are thought to be altering the distributions and abundances of animals and plants throughout the world, but their combined impacts have not been assessed for any species assemblage. Here we evaluated changes in the distribution sizes and abundances of 46 species of butterflies that approach their northern climatic range margins in Britain-where changes in climate and habitat are opposing forces. These insects might be expected to have responded positively to climate warming over the past 30 years, yet three-quarters of them declined: negative responses to habitat loss have outweighed positive responses to climate warming. Half of the species that were mobile and habitat generalists increased their distribution sites over this period (consistent with a climate explanation), whereas the other generalists and 89% of the habitat specialists declined in distribution size (consistent with habitat limitation). Changes in population abundances closely matched changes in distributions. The dual forces of habitat modification and climate change are likely to cause specialists to decline, leaving biological communities with reduced numbers of species and dominated by mobile and widespread habitat generalists.

Effect of local weather on butterfly flight behaviour, movement, and colonization: significance for dispersal under climate change

“…We conclude that these results suggest that patches of habitat in a fragmented landscape are more readily colonized in periods with weather conditions favourable for dispersal. Therefore, we argue that climate change not only aggravates the impacts of habitat fragmentation on populations (Opdam and Wascher Warren et al 2001), but also may diminish these impacts by enhancing dispersal and colonization. This is indeed shown in the successful northwards range expansion of mobile generalist species (Warren et al 2001).…”

“…Therefore, we argue that climate change not only aggravates the impacts of habitat fragmentation on populations (Opdam and Wascher Warren et al 2001), but also may diminish these impacts by enhancing dispersal and colonization. This is indeed shown in the successful northwards range expansion of mobile generalist species (Warren et al 2001). Further evidence supporting this view was found by Møller et al (2006), who found increased dispersal tendencies in a coastal seabird, the Arctic tern, in relation with long-term climate change.…”

“…Parmesan and Yohe (2003) reported shifts in the direction of the predicted climate change for 81% of 460 species of diverse taxa. Warren et al (2001) expected butterfly species approaching their northern climatic range margins in Britain to respond positively to climate warming over the past decennia. Yet, only a quarter of these species increased their area of geographical distribution, supposedly because positive responses to climate warming were outweighed by negative effects of habitat fragmentation, especially for less mobile specialists (Travis 2003).…”

Dung beetles as indicators of tropical forest restoration success: Is it possible to recover species and functional diversity?

“…Although the restored areas in our study were typically located near forest fragments, our study region is dominated by human-managed habitats such as pastures and Eucalyptus plantations. Forest generalists may be poor competitors, but possess much better dispersal abilities compared to forest-restricted species and are also less sensitive to habitat change (Krauss et al, 2003;Larsen et al, 2008;Warren et al, 2001). Therefore, they can take advantage and dominate newly available environments that have some degree of canopy cover.…”

Hormonally mediated maternal effects, individual strategy and global change

“…There is evidence of shifts in distribution, both latitudinal and elevational, for invertebrates and vertebrates [20][21][22][23][24] as well as changes in phenology [25]. Finally, local extinctions in lizards have been attributed to climate change [8].…”