THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE TIMING AND ABUNDANCE OF DIPTERA IN A SUBALPINE MEADOW

Abstract

Diptera play a critical role in alpine and subalpine ecosytems, though they are little studied in terms of what guides their timing and abundance. In order to reveal what cues dipteran timing this study was conducted for 24 years, using a Malaise trap to capture the insects, dipteran distributions were sampled once a week for 48 hours. Local climate changes have been observed at the study area at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, CO. This along with the anthropogenic forcings that have been observed around the world indicate that a warmer climate is likely in the future. Changes in temperature and precipitation have shown to affect the phenology of many species in the Colorado Rocky Mountains but flies have been previously unstudied. In this study the Diptera order was studied as a whole along with the dipteran families of the syrphids (Syrphidae), tephritids (Tephritidae), and the crane flies (Tipulidae). The June temperatures appear to have the most effect on the timing of dipteran peak biomass, though snowmelt was also significantly related to peak timing.

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