In the Old Continent, it is increasingly difficult to see dark colored butterflies and dragonflies . In fact, these insects are being displaced by others of lighter shades, able to better cope with the effects of climate change.
That is the conclusion reached by a team of researchers from the universities of Copenhagen and Marburg and from Imperial College London, who have observed how species that sport more intense coloration are moving north and to colder regions, like the Alps and the Balkans, at the same time that Europe is getting warmer.
As indicated in an essay published in Nature Communications, a good number of characteristic Mediterranean dragonflies , such as the scarlet, Crocothemis erythraea , or the Coenagrion scitulum can already be found in Germany . In fact, the latter has been sighted in England for the first time in the last 50 years.
The color of these animals is closely related to the way they absorb energy from the sun and plays a key role in regulating their body’s body temperature.
Precisely, those with lighter colors benefit from the fact that they allow light to be reflected more easily , a phenomenon that in hot regions helps them avoid overheating and staying active for longer.
“We have found a direct relationship between the climate and the coloration of two of the largest groups of insects , with implications for their geographic distribution,” says Carsten Rahbek, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College, who has participated in the study.
“ We now know that lighter-hued butterflies and dragonflies are better equipped to survive in a warmer world , and that the effects of climate change are not ideas about what will happen in the future, but are already being noticed today in ecosystems ”.
