Climatic Effects on Population Dynamics and Hybridization of a Rare Grasshopper Species
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Climatic effects on population dynamics and hybridization of a rare grasshopper species Dem Fachbereich VI (Raum- und Umweltwissenschaften) der Universität Trier zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doktor der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) genehmigte Dissertation Rohde, Katja Betreuender: PD Dr. Axel Hochkirch Berichterstattende: PD Dr. Axel Hochkirch, Prof. Dr. Alexander Proelß, Prof. Dr. Günter Köhler (extern) Datum der wissenschaftlichen Aussprache: 16.07.2015 Trier, 2015 “An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment.” - David Attenborough - Ch. montanus ♀ In loving memory to my parents Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... i Preliminary remarks ...................................................................................... iii General Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 Chapter I ........................................................................................................ 26 Sex-specific phenotypic plasticity in response to the trade-off between developmental time and body size supports the dimorphic niche hypothesis ......................................... 26 Chapter II ....................................................................................................... 46 Wide prevalence of hybridization in a rare wetland grasshopper increases genetic diversity in its widespread congener ............................................................................... 46 Chapter III ..................................................................................................... 76 Extreme climatic events cause rapid population declines of a rare wetland species and increase hybridization risk with a habitat generalist ....................................................... 76 Chapter IV ................................................................................................... 110 The role of hybridization in biodiversity conservation – Legal approaches and challenges in the International, EU and German national law ..................................... 110 Summary ...................................................................................................... 183 Zusammenfassung ....................................................................................... 185 Zusammenfassung - 1 Seite ........................................................................ 187 Erklärung ..................................................................................................... 192 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements There are many people who contributed to the realization of this thesis and I am deeply grateful to all of them. First of all I want to thank my first supervisor PD Dr. Axel Hochkirch. Although I was an “outsider” from the University of Düsseldorf with focus on bee conditioning, he put trust in me and my work and introduced me in the fascinating world of grasshoppers and hybrids. I am grateful for his help and ideas planning my dissertation project as well as for discussion and critical reading of my manuscripts. Furthermore, he gave me the opportunity to become acquainted with various laboratory and statistical methods. Without his encouragement the realization of my dissertation would not have been possible in the way it is. Likewise I want to thank Prof. Dr. Alexander Proelß, who agreed to be the second supervisor of my thesis. I am much obliged to him for inviting me to have a look inside a for me completely foreign science and for giving me the opportunity to broaden my mind. I am also grateful to him for his encouragement, input and critical reading, which enabled me to write a legal assessment on hybrids. Furthermore, I am grateful to Prof. Dr. Günter Köhler, who agreed to be the third supervisor of my thesis. I further want to extend my gratitude to Dr. Ortwin Elle for his untiring efforts to help me with complicated GIS questions until the perfect answer was found. I am grateful to the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the “Forschungsinitiative Rheinland-Pfalz” for financial support and for giving me the opportunity to visit several conferences. Likewise I am grateful to the “Struktur- and Genehmigungsdirektion Nord” for the permission to collect samples and the access to nature reserves. For help and support in the field as well as for a great time I want to thank Nicole Kranz, Marco Kranz and particularly Jasmin Weinberger, who supported me over three field seasons. Furthermore, I want to thank Elena Dreher for her dedication in the laboratory experiments as well as Elena Kaut for support in the lab. I would also like to express my gratitude to all technical assistants of our lab for always supporting me. Special thanks go to Karin Fischer and Sabine Naber, who not only helped me with genotyping a high i Acknowledgements number of samples, but also supported me and my dissertation in their free time. For proofreading parts of this thesis and the willingness to discuss I am thankful to Subashini Arichdran, Aleke Stoefen-O’Brien and Marcus Fingerle. I am very grateful to all members of the Department of Biogeography and the Graduate School for making the dissertation time something special for me. Special thanks go to Ute Herrmann for her support in all administrative questions. Furthermore, special thanks go to Maren Hochkirch and kids as well as to Sarah and Roswitha Wirtz for their great private support. I sincerely thank all my friends and my family for encouragement and distraction, particularly during the rough time at the beginning of my doctorate. Special thanks go to my office mate Daniela Matenaar for her amity and support during the whole time, as well as for her willingness to discuss and for great conference journeys. Furthermore, I am deeply grateful to Marcus Fingerle for a great and special time, for bearing my ups and downs, as well as for the strong and affectionate backing. Although they could not join me on this journey, I will always be grateful to my parents, who supported me with their love. Their fascination for our impressing nature has also aroused my curiosity and brought me on this path. Thank you! ii Preliminary remarks Preliminary remarks This PhD thesis was carried out at the Department of Biogeography, Faculty of Regional and Environmental Sciences, Trier University. Financial support was provided through the interdisciplinary graduate school ‘Cooperation of Science and Jurisprudence in Improving Development and Use of Standards for Environmental Protection – Strategies for Risk Assessment and Management’ funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, GRK 1319) and the “Forschungsinitiative Rheinland-Pfalz”. This thesis compromises four chapters, which are either already published or submitted manuscripts (unpublished), except for the legal part (Chapter IV). The citation style is adapted to the respective disciplines. Most of the results have been presented at scientific congresses. Conference and journal contributions are listed below. Manuscripts that emerged from the interdisciplinary cooperation within the graduate school as well as publications or congress contributions with another scientific background (cooperation with the University of Düsseldorf) are listed in the Curriculum vitae. These publications are not included in this thesis. Table Percentage of equity ratio on the four chapters of this thesis. Chapter data collection & data analysis Writing of the processing manuscript I 50 70 80 II 60 80 90 III 80 90 90 IV - 100 100 Full papers (peer reviewed) 1. Rohde K., Dreher E., Hochkirch A. (2015): Sex-specific phenotypic plasticity in response to the trade-off between developmental time and body size supports the dimorphic niche hypothesis. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 115, 48-57. DOI: 10.1111/bij.12460. 2. Rohde K., Hau Y., Weyer J., Hochkirch A. (2015): Wide prevalence of hybridization in a rare wetland grasshopper increases genetic diversity in its widespread congener. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2015, in press. iii Preliminary remarks Submitted (unpublished) manuscripts: 1. Rohde K., Hau Y., Kranz N., Weinberger J., Elle O., Hochkirch A. (submitted Feb. 2015) Extreme climatic events cause rapid population declines of a rare wetland species and increase hybridization risk with a habitat generalist. Submitted. Contributions to congresses (Talks) 2014 Rohde K., Weyer J., Hau Y., Lemke I., Hochkirch A.: “Hybridization - an extinction risk“; Xth European Congress of Entomology (ECE), 3rd - 8th August 2014, York (GB). 2014 Rohde K., Weyer J., Hau Y., Lemke I., Hochkirch A.: “Hybridisierung – ein Risiko für gefährdete Arten?”; 13. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Orthopterologie (DGfO), 28th - 30th March 2014, Salzburg (AUT). 2013 Rohde K., Weyer J., Hau Y., Lemke I., Hochkirch A.: “Hybridization – an extinction risk.” 11th International Congress of Orthopterology, 11th - 15th August 2013, Kunming (CN). iv General Introduction General Introduction Climate change Climate change is one of the most controversially discussed phenomena affecting human well-being, biodiversity and ecosystems. Despite the natural variability of climate due to influences such as volcanic eruptions or solar irradiance, it is generally agreed that recent climate change is mainly induced by human activities (IPCC, 2013b). The impact of human induced carbon dioxide (CO2) emission