Loss of biodiversity under climate change is on the top of European research agendas. However, there is a huge gap between the scientific and the educational communities: Only a small amount of ...current knowledge reaches the young generation. We faced the challenge of how to transfer results of biodiversity research to the reality of school classrooms – in a way that raises interest, awareness and motivation among students from the age of 12 to 19. We developed the educational software PRONAS (PROjections of NAture for Schools) to show how scientists handle questions about the impact of climate change on the habitats of many European species. About 50 European plant and animal species have been used to demonstrate habitat losses, habitat shifts, and mismatch of habitat dynamics of interacting species. The software was developed with a bottom-up approach, and a manual for applying the software in the classroom was written in close cooperation with teachers. We included specific elements of didactic approaches such as storylines describing future scenarios, projections and simulations of species' future climatic niches, as well as the combination of virtual and real excursions. PRONAS is freely accessible in German and English on http://www.ufz.de/pronas-lernsoftware. Feedback was given by about 100 teachers from German and other European schools at six teacher workshops and by 141 students from four German schools. While most teachers confirmed that the designed format of knowledge transfer is attractive and contributes to knowledge building and awareness raising, many students older than 16 felt under-challenged. Altogether, we found that "educational software" is a useful format for scientific outreach which is worth joint efforts of scientists and educators and which needs more support and incentives for scientists to go forward in this direction.
There is mounting evidence of pollinator decline all over the world and consequences in many agricultural areas could be significant. We assessed these consequences by measuring 1) the contribution ...of insect pollination to the world agricultural output economic value, and 2) the vulnerability of world agriculture in the face of pollinator decline. We used a bioeconomic approach, which integrated the production dependence ratio on pollinators, for the 100 crops used directly for human food worldwide as listed by FAO. The total economic value of pollination worldwide amounted to €153 billion, which represented 9.5% of the value of the world agricultural production used for human food in 2005. In terms of welfare, the consumer surplus loss was estimated between €190 and €310 billion based upon average price elasticities of − 1.5 to − 0.8, respectively. Vegetables and fruits were the leading crop categories in value of insect pollination with about €50 billion each, followed by edible oil crops, stimulants, nuts and spices. The production value of a ton of the crop categories that do not depend on insect pollination averaged €151 while that of those that are pollinator-dependent averaged €761. The vulnerability ratio was calculated for each crop category at the regional and world scales as the ratio between the economic value of pollination and the current total crop value. This ratio varied considerably among crop categories and there was a positive correlation between the rate of vulnerability to pollinators decline of a crop category and its value per production unit. Looking at the capacity to nourish the world population after pollinator loss, the production of 3 crop categories – namely fruits, vegetables, and stimulants - will clearly be below the current consumption level at the world scale and even more so for certain regions like Europe. Yet, although our valuation clearly demonstrates the economic importance of insect pollinators, it cannot be considered as a scenario since it does not take into account the strategic responses of the markets.
Climate change is one of the most influential drivers of biodiversity. Speciesspecific differences in the reaction to climate change can become particularly important when interacting species are ...considered. Current studies have evidenced temporal mismatching of interacting species at single points in space, and recently two investigations showed that species interactions are relevant for their future ranges. However, so far we are not aware that the ranges of interacting species may become substantially spatially mismatched. We developed separate ecological-niche models for a monophagous butterfly (Boloria titania) and its larval host plant (Polygonum bistorta) based on monthly interpolated climate data, land-cover classes, and soil data at a 10' -grid resolution. We show that all of three chosen global-change scenarios, which cover a broad range of potential developments in demography, socio-economics, and technology during the 21st century from moderate to intermediate to maximum change, will result in a pronounced spatial mismatch between future niche spaces of these species. The butterfly may expand considerably its future range (by 124—258%) if the host plant has unlimited dispersal, but it could lose 52—75% of its current range if the host plant is not able to fill its projected ecological niche space, and 79—88% if the butterfly also is assumed to be highly dispersal limited. These findings strongly suggest that climate change has the potential to disrupt trophic interactions because co-occurring species do not necessarily react in a similar manner to global change, having important consequences at ecological and evolutionary time scales.
Evolutionary theory predicts that high genetic variation maintains plasticity in a species’ response to parasite pressure. However, higher genetic diversity might also cause easier infiltration by ...social parasites, because odour diversity is high and nest-mate recognition poor. Here we test if the obligate myrmecophile Lycaenid butterfly Phengaris nausithous, a parasite of colonies of the highly polygynous ant Myrmica rubra causes local adaptation by enhancing genetic variance in parasitized versus non parasitized ant populations M. rubra colonies from six infested and three uninfested sites were assayed at five microsatellite loci to quantify genetic variation. Our results reveal isolation by distance and a significantly enhanced intracolonial variance due to the parasite pressure.
Larvae of Phengaris (Maculinea) butterflies are adopted by Myrmica workers and are obligate myrmecophiles. Brood recognition by Myrmica rubra workers was tested for concolonial larvae (M. rubra) ...versus allocolonial larvae (M. rubra and P. nausithous) to assay the mimetic efficiency of P. nausithous. In addition, we tested M. rubra ant colonies from different populations with and without the presence of Phengaris, to test for potential local adaptation in adoption behaviour. We show that M. rubra can distinguish between nest-mate and foreign larvae as well as between P. nausithous and their own larvae. Workers from the allopatric population inspected and rejected more P. nausithous larvae than workers from the sympatric population. This might reflect a local host adaptation in which the social parasite more efficiently mimes its sympatric host ants than allopatric ones.
Climate change and biological invasions are key processes affecting global biodiversity, yet their effects have usually been considered separately. Here, we emphasise that global warming has enabled ...alien species to expand into regions in which they previously could not survive and reproduce. Based on a review of climate-mediated biological invasions of plants, invertebrates, fishes and birds, we discuss the ways in which climate change influences biological invasions. We emphasise the role of alien species in a more dynamic context of shifting species’ ranges and changing communities. Under these circumstances, management practices regarding the occurrence of ‘new’ species could range from complete eradication to tolerance and even consideration of the ‘new’ species as an enrichment of local biodiversity and key elements to maintain ecosystem services.
Research on ecosystem services has grown rapidly over the last decade. Two conceptual frameworks have been published to guide ecological assessments of organisms that deliver services—the concepts of ...service-providing units (SPUs) and ecosystem service providers (ESPs). Here, we unite these frameworks and present an SPU-ESP continuum that offers a coherent conceptual approach for synthesizing the latest developments in ecosystem service research, and can direct future studies at all levels of organization. In particular, we show how the service-provider concept can be applied at the population, functional group, and community levels. We strongly emphasize the need to identify and quantify the organisms and their characteristics (e.g., functional traits) that provide services, and to assess service provision relative to the demands of human beneficiaries. We use key examples from the literature to illustrate the new approach and to highlight gaps in knowledge, particularly in relation to the impact of species interactions and ecosystem dynamics on service provision.
The increasing spread of invasive alien plants has changed biodiversity throughout the world. To date research in this area has focused on how invasive plant species affect pollinator behaviour, but ...there is a lack of data on the impact that alien plant species have on wild pollinator populations. Since their introduction in the 19th century, and rapid spread after the 1950s, alien goldenrods (
Solidago canadensis,
Solidago gigantea) have been among the most successful invasive plant species in Europe. We studied the effects of goldenrods on wild pollinator communities in SE Poland. The abundance, species richness and diversity of wild bees, hoverflies and butterflies were compared between wet meadows invaded by goldenrod (10 transects) and non-invaded controls (10 transects). Furthermore, we compared the plant diversity and average cover between the two groups of sites. Invasion of goldenrods had a very strong negative effect on wild pollinator diversity as well as abundance. Plant diversity and average cover were also negatively affected by goldenrod invasion. Wild pollinators were grouped according to their nesting and food specialization, but none were resistant to the invasion, indicating that introduced goldenrod may affect the entire wild pollinator community. Our study emphasises the urgent need to develop specific protection plans for wild pollinators in habitats threatened by foreign plants and we call for the introduction of programs to stop the invasion of goldenrod not only in Poland, but also on a continental scale.
Maculinea
butterflies are social parasites of
Myrmica
ants. Methods to study the strength of host ant specificity in the
Maculinea
–
Myrmica
association include research on chemical and acoustic ...mimicry as well as experiments on ant adoption and rearing behaviour of
Maculinea
larvae. Here we present results of laboratory experiments on adoption, survival, development and integration of
M. teleius
larvae within the nests of different
Myrmica
host species, with the objective of quantifying the degree of specialization of this
Maculinea
species. In the laboratory, a total of 94 nests of four
Myrmica
species:
M. scabrinodis
,
M. rubra
,
M.
ruginodis
and
M. rugulosa
were used. Nests of
M. rubra
and
M. rugulosa
adopted
M. teleius
larvae more readily and quickly than
M. ruginodis
colonies. No significant differences were found in the survival rates of
M. teleius
larvae reared by different ant species. Early larval growth of
M. teleius
larvae differed slightly among nests of four
Myrmica
host species. Larvae reared by colonies of
M. rugulosa
which were the heaviest at the beginning of larval development had the lowest mean larval body mass after 18 weeks compared to those reared by other
Myrmica
species. None of the
M.
teleius
larvae was carried by
M. scabrinodis
or
M. rubra
workers after ant nests were destroyed, which suggests a lack of integration with host colonies. Results indicate that
Myrmica
species coming from the same site differ in their ability to adopt and rear
M. teleius
larvae but there was no obvious adaptation of this butterfly species to one of the host ant species. This may explain why, under natural conditions, all four ants can be used as hosts of this butterfly species. Slight advantages of particular
Myrmica
species as hosts at certain points in butterfly larval development can be explained by the ant species biology and colony structure rather than by specialization of
M. teleius
.
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