PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Climate change may disrupt butterfly flight seasons

2013-11-22
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Heather Kharouba
kharouba@ucdavis.edu
530-400-4579
University of British Columbia
Climate change may disrupt butterfly flight seasons

The flight season timing of a wide variety of butterflies is responsive to temperature and could be altered by climate change, according to a UBC study that leverages more than a century's worth of museum and weather records.

Researchers from UBC, the Université de Sherbrooke and the University of Ottawa combed through Canadian museum collections of more than 200 species of butterflies and matched them with weather station data going back 130 years. They found butterflies possess a widespread temperature sensitivity, with flight season occurring on average 2.4 days earlier per degree celsius of temperature increase.

"With warmer temperatures butterflies emerge earlier in the year, and their active flight season occurs earlier," says Heather Kharouba, lead author of the paper published this week in Global Change Biology. "This could have several implications for butterflies. If they emerge too early, they could encounter frost and die. Or they might emerge before the food plants they rely on appear and starve."

"Butterflies are also a bell-weather, and provide an early warning signal for how other wildlife may respond to climate change," adds Kharouba, who conducted the research while completing her PhD at UBC, and is now a post-doctoral researcher with the University of California, Davis.

The researchers utilized the day of collection found in records to estimate the timing of flight season for each species, and compared it with the historical weather data.

The study was possible thanks to the massive amount of data housed in museum collections and records. Much of the butterfly data in Canada has been centralized via the Canadian National Collection of Butterflies -- records in British Columbia being the exception. To gather data for this province, Kharouba relied on private collections. Only a small portion of the butterfly specimens found in UBC's Beaty Biodiversity Museum-Vancouver natural history museum are databased.

"Museum collection records are an under-exploited resource of ecological data and can provide a window into the past, and potentially the future," says Kharouba. "We should invest in efforts to properly database and centralize more of these records."



INFORMATION:



Heather Kharouba
Center for Population Biology Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Evolution and Ecology
University of California, Davis
kharouba.weebly.com
Phone: 530.400.4579
E-mail: kharouba@ucdavis.edu

Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Coordinator, Communications
UBC Faculty of Science
Phone: 604.827.5001
E-mail: silvia.moreno-garcia@science.ubc.ca



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Pre-eclampsia rates on the rise in the US

2013-11-22
Pre-eclampsia rates on the rise in the US Study shows a relative increase of 322 percent for severe pre-eclampsia November 20, 2013 -- A latest study by researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Medical ...

Researchers map brain areas vital to understanding language

2013-11-22
Researchers map brain areas vital to understanding language CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When reading text or listening to someone speak, we construct rich mental models that allow us to draw conclusions about other people, objects, actions, events, mental ...

Breaking the code

2013-11-22
Breaking the code You may be sensitive to gluten, but you're not sure. Perhaps you can't put your finger on a recurring malaise, and your doctor is at a loss to figure it out. A diagnostic method recently developed by UC Santa Barbara ...

UCLA researchers' new technique improves accuracy, ease of cancer diagnosis

2013-11-22
UCLA researchers' new technique improves accuracy, ease of cancer diagnosis 'Deformability cytometry' can closely analyze more than 1,000 cells per second A team of researchers from UCLA and Harvard University have demonstrated a technique that, ...

Fun at work promotes employee retention but may hurt productivity

2013-11-22
Fun at work promotes employee retention but may hurt productivity Within the hospitality industry, manager support for fun is instrumental in reducing employee turnover, particularly for younger employees, according to a team of researchers. However, manager support for fun also ...

Will 2-D tin be the next super material?

2013-11-22
Will 2-D tin be the next super material? Theorists predict new single-layer material could go beyond graphene, conducting electricity with 100 percent efficiency at room temperature A single layer of tin atoms could be the world's first ...

Kessler Foundation study provides first Class 1 evidence for cognitive rehabilitation in MS

2013-11-22
Kessler Foundation study provides first Class 1 evidence for cognitive rehabilitation in MS MEMREHAB Trial shows a significant effect for cognitive rehabilitation in MS that lasts 6 months WEST ORANGE, NJ November 21, 2013. Kessler Foundation researchers ...

NASA sees Tropical Storm Helen affecting southeastern India

2013-11-22
NASA sees Tropical Storm Helen affecting southeastern India NASA's Aqua satellite captured visible and infrared imagery of slow-moving Tropical Storm Helen as it was spreading its western clouds over parts of southeastern India on November 21. On Nov. 21 at 07:55 ...

NASA catches Melissa's fickle life as a tropical storm

2013-11-22
NASA catches Melissa's fickle life as a tropical storm

What can happen when graphene meets a semiconductor

2013-11-22
What can happen when graphene meets a semiconductor UWM study shows another feature that affects electron transport in graphene For all the promise of graphene as a material for next-generation electronics and quantum computing, scientists still don't know ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

NJIT research team discovering how fluids behave in nanopores with NSF grant

New study shows association of historical housing discrimination and shortfalls in colon cancer treatment

Social media use may help to empower plastic surgery patients

Q&A: How to train AI when you don't have enough data

Wayne State University researchers uncover potential treatment targets for Zika virus-related eye abnormalities

Discovering Van Gogh in the wild: scientists unveil a new gecko species

Small birds spice up the already diverse diet of spotted hyenas in Namibia

Imaging detects transient “hypoxic pockets” in the mouse brain

Dissolved organic matter could be used to track and improve the health of freshwaters

Indoor air quality standards in public buildings would boost health and economy, say international experts

Positive associations between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

New imaging method illuminates oxygen's journey in the brain

Researchers discover key gene for toxic alkaloid in barley

New approach to monitoring freshwater quality can identify sources of pollution, and predict their effects

Bidirectional link between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

Cell division quality control ‘stopwatch’ uncovered

Vaccine protects cattle from bovine tuberculosis, may eliminate disease

Andrew Siemion to receive the SETI Institute’s 2024 Drake Award

New study shows how the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus enters our cells

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy proves effective for locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma

Study flips treatment paradigm in bilateral Wilms tumor, shows resistance to chemotherapy may point toward favorable outcomes

Doctors received approximately $12.1 billion from drug and device makers between 2013-2022

Discovery suggests new strategy against follicular lymphoma

Making the future too bright: how wishful thinking can point us in the wrong direction

Ochsner Health named to Newsweek’s America’s Greatest Workplaces 2024 for Job Starters

Three-year study of young stars with NASA’s Hubble enters new chapter

North Carolina takes the lead in PFAs research with Collaboratory’s $3 million investment to expand the state’s research capacity

Is it the school, or the students?

Exploring the relationship between HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and the incidence of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis – findings from Denmark

Music: Song lyrics have become simpler and more repetitive since 1980

[Press-News.org] Climate change may disrupt butterfly flight seasons