Collaborative team of researchers, including University of Readinghave developed computer simulations to predict the movement of species.
Scientists have noticed that moths are struggling to move north because of their inability to adapt to climate change in the United Kingdom (United Kingdom). However, this journey can be supported by identifying specific areas where recovery is taking place, which can provide the insect with a “smoother” journey. In addition, it will allow researchers to predict the movement of species in a changing climate and predict where and when moths will congregate.
Researchers from the University of Reading, the University of Liverpool, Rothamsted Research and Butterfly Conversion combined real data to create a computer simulation to track the movement of this species.
What does the prediction of the movement of moths reveal?
Scientists have been able to observe that agricultural land and suburban moths – both of which are crucial for both pollination and as food for birds and bats – are struggling to move through landscapes. In this way, the research team can identify features of the landscape, such as rocky hills, that seem to hinder their movement.
Dr Jenny Hodgson, lead author of the University of Liverpool, said: “These new computer models will help us focus on habitat restoration in the most efficient places to help species adapt to climate change through displacement. of their range throughout the country.
Professor Tom Oliver, an ecologist at the University of Reading and co-author of the study, added: We urgently need targeted habitat restoration to help species adapt to climate change.
“Using forecasts like these would allow us to effectively create moth highways, helping endangered moth species to reach new, more suitable regions faster in their quest to survive.
Scientists are dealing with a lack of ability to predict the movement of species
There is a prevailing concern that wildlife in the UK will not be able to register climate change if habitat is too scarce or insufficiently connected. However, so far there has been a lack of ability to predict the movement of species through landscapes during climate change.
This study, published today (May 20, 2022) in the journal Biology of global changerevealed that moth species found in agricultural lands and suburban habitats move only north in some British landscapes, endangering them.
The team found that landscapes with hills or different temperatures act as bottlenecks, slowing the movement of farmland and suburban moths. The explanations for this are unclear, although it may be that the hills are a physical barrier to scattering or that mountain areas contain less hedges, sources of nectar and food for larvae.
Scientists have collected data on the movement of 54 southern moth species since 1985 onwards from the Rothamsted Research Light Trap Network and the National Moth Recording Scheme. This allowed them to test the results of computer-simulated data.
What do these results reveal?
Dr Chris Shortl, an entomologist at Rothamsted Research and co-author of the study, said: to expand the area. There may be ways to adapt agricultural practices to improve the ability of species to move through these landscapes. “
Dr. Zoe Randall, senior specialist in butterfly conservation research and co-author of the study, concluded: “The findings of this work have great potential to maximize the impact of conservation, habitat restoration and tree planting these environmental improvements in the right places.
“We are captive to biodiversity and the climate crisis; time is of the essence and the findings of this study can indeed help to differentiate between helping moths and other species in these communities that are undergoing expansion due to climate change. “
Predicting the movement of species with computer simulations
