INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MOUNTAINS AND CLIMATE CHANGE Alpine butterflies: a challenge to understand the effects of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems Valerio Sbordoni Department of Biology Tor Vergata University, Roma, Italy Why butterflies? 2 Butterflies are rigorously dependent upon both biotic and abiotic landscape features even at very tiny scales, since their ecology and evolution have been shaped upon their “coarse-grained” sensitivity to the environmental heterogeneity. Butterflies have short life cycles and thus react quickly to environmental changes. Their limited dispersal ability, larval foodplant specialisation and close-reliance on the weather and climate make many butterfly species sensitive to fine-scale changes. These features make butterflies a valuable indicator of biodiversity and provide an early warning system for biodiversity loss and other kinds of ecosystem changes. As a result, they are now the best- monitored group of insects in the world. 3 The Pleistocene glaciations have had a major effect on plants and animals as most species’ distributions shifted in response to climatic fluctuations. De Chaine & Martin(2005). American Journal of Botany. 92: 477- 486. Cold resistant alpine species were probably widely distributed during the last ice age with its cold and dry climatic conditions, and only became disjunct after the climate warmed and their habitats shifted pole-wards and to higher elevations in mountains (sky islands). 4 Many butterfly species inhabit previously glaciated areas in the Alps, Himalaya and other Eurasian mountains, as well as Rocky Mountains, and offer an ideal opportunity to study what effects the climate changes had on their demography and evolution. Kunlun Shan, Qinghai, China 5 Biogeographical terms like”arctic- alpine” and “boreo-alpine” distributions have been applied to species showing today a disjunct or discontinuous distribution in arctic regions or high mountain areas, probably reflecting wider and more continuous distribution ranges during the cold periods. Boloria pales Erebia epiphron 6 Parnassius apollo Parnassius phoebus Large datasets of georeferenced occurrence data are available 8 Parnassius phoebus Todisco et al. (2012) J Biogeogr. 39, 1058–1072 9 Parnassius phoebus 21K years BP 6K years BP present Parnassius apollo 10 Do ecology and genetics tell the same history? We can model the evolutionary and distributional history of these alpine butterflies in relation to climate changes by means of two independent analytical approaches: • ecological niche modelling (ENM) • genetics (i.e.: molecular phylogeography) 7 Sino-Himalayan butterflies: geographical trend in number of species Aporia agathon Aporia nabellica Aporia hastata P.nP.ra pae A.pa api A.drusilla ulina A.harrietae A.monbeigi meilliensis A.acra 0.99 eaA.acraea LTT: Lineages Through Time plot 0.58 wolongensisA.lhamo 0. 9 8 A.harrietae 0.50 1.00 A.larraldei melania 1.00A.larraldei shizouyai A.larraldei Aporia 0.85 1.000.90 A.larraldei melania 1.00 A.kanekoi 0.68 A.nishimurai 1.00 A.tayensis A.oberthuri cinerea 0.96 A.oberthuri A.oberthuri cinerea 0.930.97 A.kamei 1.00 A.hastata Byasa 0.86 0.78 0.95 1.00 A.agathon 0.93 1.00 A.gigantea A.largetaui A.lemoulti Myr 1.00 A.delavayi A.delavayi dayensis 1.00A.goutellei 0.99 A.goutellei xantina A.martineti martineti A.tsillingicaA.procris jaltangica 0.91 0.98 A.procris nyanchuensis 1.000.98 A.bernardi bernardi d B . a s a r a d a A.bernardi yunnana B.belus 1.00 1.00 A.procris lancangica B.polyeuctes B.alcinous B.mencius B.adamsoni B.laos B.hedistus B.impediens B.plutonius B.ne villi B.latreilleii B.polla B.crassipes B.demonius B.philenor 0.950.77 A.uedai 0.74 A.signana P.antenor A.leucodice 1.00 B.a.bradanus B.i.phebanus A.nox 0.76 A.zaleucos B.d. bara ta B.d.r avan a A.nabellica B.a.confusus B.a.mansonensis B.p.pembertoni 0.97 1.00 A.varuna 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 A.soracta B.m.rhadinus 1.00 0.58 0.98 T.helena A.sycoras 0.99 0.52 0.97 0.94 1.00 1. 0 0 0.74 B.l. ticona B.l. ticona B.l. 0.66 1.00 0.65 B.p.lama B.p.lama B.p.lama B.p.lama 1.00 1.00 B.p.lama A.procris procris A.hegeni 1.00 0.92 B.l. genestieri B.l. 0.86 1.00 0.95 1.00 1.00 0.62 1.00 1.00 1.00 A.bieti lihsieni 1.00 0.52 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.61 1.00 0.61 1.00 0.54 0.91 0.95 0.90 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.93 A.genestieri pseudopotanini 1 . 0 0 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 A. genestieri genestieroides 1.00 0.75 0.99 0.61 0.93 0.85 0.85 A. genestieri genestieri 1.00 1.00 A.potanini 0.81 0.99 A.crataegi 0.52 0.1 1.00 P.lysander P.zacynthus Genus Aporia Genus Byasa P. Gratton Ice Sheet and Nunataks in East Greenland, Photo M. J. Hambrey, 1987. Why butterflies? Biogeographical terms like”arctic- alpine” and “boreo-alpine” distributions have been applied to species showing today a disjunct or discontinuous distribution in arctic regions or high mountain areas, probably reflecting wider and more continuous distribution ranges during the cold periods. Erebia pandrose 4 .