Temperature Drives Variation in Flying Insect Biomass Across a German Malaise Trap
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bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.02.429363; this version posted May 6, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 1 Title: Temperature drives variation in flying insect biomass across a German malaise trap 2 network 3 Running head: Insect biomass over ecological gradients 4 Authors: Ellen A.R. Welti1*, Petr Zajicek1, Manfred Ayasse2, Tim Bornholdt3, Jörn Buse4, 5 Frank Dziock5, Rolf A. Engelmann6,7, Jana Englmeier8, Martin Fellendorf2, Marc I. Förschler4, 6 Mark Frenzel9, Ute Fricke10, Cristina Ganuza10, Mathias Hippke11, Günter Hoenselaar12, Andrea 7 Kaus-Thiel13, Klaus Mandery14, Andreas Marten15, Michael T. Monaghan16,17, Carsten Morkel12, 8 Jörg Müller8, Stephanie Puffpaff18, Sarah Redlich10, Ronny Richter6,7,19, Sandra Rojas Botero20, 9 Tobias Scharnweber21, Gregor Scheiffarth22, Paul Schmidt Yáñez16, Rhena Schumann23,24, 10 Sebastian Seibold25,26, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter10, Stefan Stoll27, Cynthia Tobisch28, Sönke 11 Twietmeyer29, Johannes Uhler8, Juliane Vogt20, Dirk Weis30, Wolfgang W. Weisser20, Martin 12 Wilmking21, Peter Haase1,31 13 Author affiliations: 14 1 Department of River Ecology and Conservation, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural 15 History Museum Frankfurt, Gelnhausen 63571 Germany 16 2 Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, Ulm University, Ulm 89075 17 Germany 18 3 Lower Oder Valley National Park, Schwedt/Oder, OT Criewen 16303 Germany 19 4 Black Forest National Park, Freudenstadt 72250 Germany 20 5 Animal Ecology, University of Applied Sciences HTW Dresden, Pillnitzer Platz 2, Dresden 21 01326 Germany 22 6 German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig 04103 23 Germany 24 7 Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Institute for Biology, Leipzig University, 25 Berlin 04103 Germany 26 8 Ecological Field Station, University of Würzburg, Rauhenebrach 96181 Germany 27 9 Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Halle 06120 Germany 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.02.429363; this version posted May 6, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 28 10 Animal Ecology and Tropical Ecology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg 97074 29 Germany 30 11 Biosphärenreservatsamt Schaalsee-Elbe, Zarrentin am Schaalsee 19246 Germany 31 12 Kellerwald-Edersee National Park, Bad Wildungen 34537 Germany 32 13 Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park, Birkenfeld 55765 Germany 33 14 Institut für Biodiversitätsinformation e.V., Ebern 96106 Germany 34 15 Harz National Park, Wernigerode 38855 Germany 35 16 Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin 12587 Germany 36 17 Institut für Biologie, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Germany 37 18 Nationalparkamt Vorpommern, Born a. Darß 18375 Germany 38 19 Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Institute for Geography, Leipzig University, Leipzig 39 04103 Germany 40 20 Restoration Ecology Research Group, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, 41 Technical University of Munich, Freising 85354 Germany 42 21 Institute for Botany and Landscape Ecology, University Greifswald, Greifswald 17489 43 Germany 44 22 Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority, Wilhelmshaven 26382 Germany 45 23 Biological Station Zingst, University of Rostock, Zingst 18374 Germany 46 24 Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institute of Biological Science, University of Rostock, 47 Rostock 18059 Germany 48 25 Ecosystem Dynamics and Forest Management Research Group, Technical University of 49 Munich, Freising 85354 Germany 50 26 Berchtesgaden National Park, Berchtesgaden 83471 Germany 51 27 Environmental Planning and Technology, University of Applied Sciences Trier, 52 Environmental Campus Birkenfeld, Birkenfeld 55761 Germany 53 28 Institute for Ecology and Landscape, Weihenstephan University of Applied Sciences, Freising 54 85354 Germany 55 29 Eifel National Park, Schleiden-Gemünd 53937 Germany 56 30 Biosphärenreservat Oberlausitzer Heide- und Teichlandschaft, Malschwitz OT Wartha 02694 57 Germany 58 31 Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany 59 *corresponding author, email: [email protected] 60 2 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.02.429363; this version posted May 6, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 61 ABSTRACT 62 1) Among the many concerns for biodiversity in the Anthropocene, recent reports of flying 63 insect loss are particularly alarming, given their importance as pollinators and as a food 64 source for many predators. Few insect monitoring programs cover large spatial scales 65 required to provide more generalizable estimates of insect responses to global change 66 drivers. 67 2) We ask how climate and surrounding habitat affect flying insect biomass and day of peak 68 biomass using data from the first year of a new standardized distributed monitoring 69 network at 84 locations across Germany comprising spatial gradient of land-cover types 70 from protected to urban areas. 71 3) Flying insect biomass increased linearly with monthly temperature across Germany. 72 However, the effect of temperature on flying insect biomass flipped to negative in the hot 73 months of June and July when local temperatures most exceeded long-term averages. 74 4) Land-cover explained little variation in insect biomass, but biomass was lowest in 75 forested sites. Grasslands, pastures and orchards harbored the highest insect biomass. The 76 date of peak biomass was primarily driven by surrounding land-cover type, with 77 grasslands especially having earlier insect biomass phenologies. 78 5) Standardized, large-scale monitoring is pivotal to uncover underlying processes of insect 79 decline and to develop climate-adapted strategies to promote insect diversity. In a 80 temperate climate region, we find that the benefits of temperature on flying insect 81 biomass diminish in a German summer at locations where temperatures most exceeded 82 long-term averages. These results highlighting the importance of local adaptation in 83 climate change-driven impacts on insect communities. 84 85 Keywords: ecological gradients, climate change, land-cover, insect monitoring, malaise trap, 86 pollinator, thermal performance, LTER 87 3 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.02.429363; this version posted May 6, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 88 INTRODUCTION 89 Insects constitute much of terrestrial biodiversity and deliver essential ecosystem services such 90 as pollination of the majority of wild plants and 75% of crop species (Losey & Vaughan, 2006; 91 Vanbergen & Insect Pollinators Initiative, 2013). Insect biomass is a key constituent of energy 92 flows in many food webs (Stepanian et al., 2020), a useful measure of whole insect communities 93 (Shortall et al., 2009) and an indicator of ecosystem function (Barnes et al., 2016; Dangles et al., 94 2011). Climate change and anthropogenically-altered land-cover are likely drivers of insect 95 declines, but their effects on insect biomass are still poorly characterized (Habel et al., 2019). 96 Amidst burgeoning evidence of widespread insect declines, standardized, and large scale insect 97 monitoring is needed to improve estimates of trends, and identify drivers (Didham et al., 2020; 98 Wagner, 2020). 99 Climate change is geographically pervasive (Wilson & Fox, 2020) and may explain 100 insect decline in natural areas (e.g. Janzen & Hallwachs, 2019; Welti, Roeder, et al., 2020). 101 Some insect taxa are benefiting from rising temperatures, which can increase local populations 102 (Baker et al., 2021) and range sizes (Termaat et al., 2019). However, as temperatures continue to 103 rise and increase more rapidly, negative impacts on insect productivity are expected (Warren et 104 al., 2018). This relationship is predicted by thermal performance theory, which hypothesizes that 105 insect fitness, as measured by biomass or other performance indicators, will have a unimodal 106 response to temperature (Kingsolver & Huey, 2008; Sinclair et al., 2016). 107 Responses of precipitation regimes to climate change vary with region, but forecasts 108 generally suggest increased frequency of both heavy precipitation events and droughts (Myhre et 109 al., 2019). High precipitation increases insect mortality and shortens the period of time insects 110 are flying (Totland, 1994). Indirect effects of precipitation on flying insects mediated by plants 4 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.02.429363; this version posted May 6, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND