An Arctic beetle could be an excellent indicator of the effects of climate change.
The helpful beetle could allow scientists to measure changes how Arctic weather patterns influence biodiversity, which is data that has been elusive in the past, McGill University reported. The first large-scale survey of Arctic beetles revealed the critters' potential to provide this information.
The study showed the Arctic beetles are abundant in number and diverse in feeding habits, it also revealed a strong link between what they eat and the latitude in which they are found. These insights suggest the beetles could act as climate change markers because changes in climate can influence the soil, plant life, and animals that they feast on. A team of researchers identified 460 different species of Arctic beetles in locations spanning from boreal forest in Northern Ontario to Ellesmere Island.
"Depending on the latitude and the temperature, Arctic beetles perform a range of ecological functions such as pollinating or feeding on plants, preying on other insects, and breaking down decaying matter," said Crystal Ernst of McGill's Dept. of Natural Resource Sciences, first author on the study published today in PLOS ONE. "In the far north, there are generally very high numbers of predators and far fewer beetles which eat plants, while further south the reverse is generally true."
The discovery that the beetle is extremely sensitive to temperatures could be valuable to climate change monitoring in the future.
"As temperatures in northern regions rise or become more variable, there is a strong possibility that the beetle communities will undergo significant changes in response," said lead researcher Chris Buddle. "Whether these changes will have positive or negative effects on Arctic ecosystems and the other animals and plants living there remains to be seen, but it is clear that beetles' sensitivity to climate make them ideal targets for long-term biodiversity monitoring in the far north."
