Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Evidence is accumulating that climate change is having a significant effect on a wide range of organisms spanning the full range of biodiversity found on this planet.This study investigates the ecological role of climate change, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and habitat change on British insect populations.Despite the NAO having a considerable effect on British weather, the role of the NAO on British insects has not previously been studied in great detail.The World"s two best entomological time series datasets were usedthe United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) and the Rothamsted Insect Survey of aphidsboth surveys with very large sample sizes and high quality data.Summary of main findings: 1. Warm weather associated with a positive NAO index caused the spring migration of the green spruce aphid (Elatobium abietinum), a pest species of spruce trees (Picea) to start earlier, continue for longer and contain more aphids.An upward trend in the NAO index during the period 1966-2006 is associated with an increasing population size of E. abietinum.2. The NAO does not affect the overall UK butterfly population size.However, the abundance of bivoltine butterfly species, which have a longer flight season, were more likely to respond positively to the NAO compared to univoltine species, which show little or a negative response.3. A positive winter NAO index was associated with warmer weather and earlier butterfly flight dates.For bivoltine (two generations in a year) species, the NAO affects the phenology of the first generation, and then the timing of the second generation is indirectly controlled by the timing of the first generation.The NAO influences the timing of the butterfly flight seasons more strongly than it influences population size.4. Butterfly data from Monks Wood National Nature Reserve in Cambridgeshire showed that the NAO does not affect the abundance of the whole butterfly community, but it does affect the population size of some species.The NAO receives grant-aided support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom.The suction trap network is also
Author: Angus Westgarth-Smith
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Life on land, Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W394700701