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Distribution map of Coenonympha hero in Europe. Right: location of the 599 presences in Europe used for SDM1 to SDM4. Top left: location of the 85 occurrences in France used for SDM5. French departments are coloured according status of C. hero (present/extinct/absent). Bottom left: location of the 31 localities sampled in 2019 in the French departments of Doubs Jura, and Saône‐et‐Loire for genetic analyses
Source publication
Aim
To determine the interplay between climate and land use changes in driving population dynamics in a butterfly species, Coenonympha hero, at the southern limit of its distribution.
Location
French Jura massif and Europe.
Methods
We analysed patterns of genetic diversity distribution at 817 loci in 136 butterflies from 31 sites using NGS to inf...
Citations
... In line with previous conservation studies on butterflies reviewed by Sucháčková Bartoňová et al. (2023), we use genomic data to assess the genetic diversity of populations and to infer demographic trends, allowing us to identify populations in decline (Sherpa et al., 2022). We combine genomic and environmental data to clarify the relationship between Swiss and Austrian E. nivalis and to identify populations requiring conservation efforts. ...
... The taxonomic status of Swiss E. nivalis has been a long-standing debate (Sonderegger, 2005;Tschudin et al., 2017). Although the split between the two distribution ranges predates the last glaciation, the level of genetic differentiation is comparable with that found between glacial lineages in other butterflies (e.g., Sherpa et al., 2022), including other Erebia (Jospin et al., 2023), that have not been elevated to an independent taxonomic rank. However, Swiss and Austrian lineages of E. nivalis form distinct phylogenetic clusters (Figure 2a), with a little to no gene flow between them ( Figure S1). ...
Cold‐adapted species at high elevations may be especially impacted by global warming since they may be limited in their capacity to adapt to changing conditions or may be prevented from shifting their distributions upwards if no suitable habitats are available.
The latter may be true for Erebia nivalis , a high‐elevation specialist that mainly occurs in the Austrian Alps and on few mountaintops in Switzerland, where its taxonomic and conservation status remains unclear.
We aimed to clarify the relationships among geographically isolated populations of E. nivalis using whole‐genome resequencing data to reconstruct population connectivity and phylogenetic relationships. We inferred current and historical effective population sizes and combined these with tests for ecological differentiation based on available occurrence data to re‐evaluate the conservation status of E. nivalis.
Our results confirm that Swiss and Austrian E. nivalis should be considered different evolutionarily significant units for conservation purposes, as they are marked by moderate genomic differentiation, distinct demographic histories and a difference in the abiotic conditions of their habitats.
In both Austria and Switzerland, we found rapid uphill range shifts over the last decades, little population connectivity, low current effective population sizes and low genetic diversity. The above, combined with the low dispersal capacity of this 2‐year lifecycle species and its need to overwinter under snow, which is rapidly retreating from several regions of the Alps, leads us to suggest that the status of E. nivalis should be updated to ‘Vulnerable’ or ‘Endangered’ in the European, Swiss and Austrian Red Lists.
... As a corollary, climate-driven range shifts are already well documented in multiple European butterfly species (Parmesan et al., 1999;Kotiaho et al., 2005;Parmesan, 2006;Warren et al., 2021). The coincidence in the distributions of threatened species and the magnitude of recent summer warming in eastern Europe (Figs. 3 and 4) might thus indicate that climatic effects on butterfly threats in Europe have so far been underestimated (see also Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys, 2019), perhaps because they are less apparent than those of land use and/or just synergistically reinforce its impact (Heikkinen et al., 2021;Sherpa et al., 2022). However, the fact that winter temperature changes do not covary with threatened species, although they are known to be critical for hibernating larvae of cold-adapted species (Stuhldreher et al., 2014;Konvicka et al., 2021), is not fully consistent with a causal interpretation of the correlations found. ...
Land use change, as a result of many local-scale decisions scaling up to large spatial extents, is considered the main threat to European butterflies. The impact of large-scale pressures, such as atmospheric nitrogen deposition or climate change, is less understood or less documented, respectively. However, it is acknowledged that they might reinforce the pressure on already threatened species. To evaluate the additional threat exerted by these pressures we compared their geographical pattern to those of threatened butterflies across Europe. We therefore derived range maps of 383 butterfly species and used two species-specific threat assessments derived from national and European Red Lists. We then used Spearman rank-correlations and beta-regressions to compare two metrics of species threat per 10 × 10 km raster cells with geographical patterns of cumulative nitrogen de-positions from 1980 to 2015, as well as the magnitude of change in precipitation sums and temperature means between the decades 1979-1988 and 2004-2013. We found that threatened species tend to concentrate in areas with high nitrogen depositions and pronounced summer temperature changes. In particular, parts of central and eastern Europe were both hotspots of threatened butterflies and hotspots of climatic pressure. This spatial coincidence of the distribution of threatened butterfly species with large-scale patterns of nitrogen depositions and recent climate warming indicates an already considerable risk of regional to continental extinctions that will likely increase further in the future as climate change will most likely intensify. Consequences for area-based conservation measures are discussed.
... However, the picture is less clear for boreomontane species (Schmitt and Varga, 2012). Some species may have survived the last glaciation in restricted non-glaciated areas at high latitude or altitude, or as small populations at the margin of the glaciated areas (Schoville et al., 2011;Sherpa et al., 2022). Other species may have benefited from cold temperature and expanded their range during the LGM . ...
... Missing data was imputed to the most likely genotype using the LEA R package v3.0.0 (impute function; Frichot and François, 2015), and a number of ancestral populations corresponding to the number of geographical areas: N = 5 for B. aquilonaris and C. tullia; N = 8 for L. helle (Supplementary Table S1). We used a mutation rate of 2.10 − 9 based on previous studies in butterflies (Keightley et al., 2015;Kebaili et al., 2022;Sherpa et al., 2022) and a generation time of one year, all species being univoltine. The total sequence length accounted for both polymorphic and monomorphic loci. ...
... Furthermore, they currently occupy habitats in which temperature conditions correspond to the upper limits of their respective thermal niches. Together, these results suggest that boreomontane species are somehow trapped in isolated areas (south margin) and in their specific habitat (fragmented patches) (see also Sherpa et al., 2022). This implies that species might not be able to respond to future climate change, especially for dispersal-limited and habitat specialist species (Habel et al., 2023), and that further habitat degradation threaten the persistence of populations. ...
Climate is a main driver of species distributions, but all species are not equally affected by climate change, and their differential responses to similar climatic constraints might dramatically affect the local species composition. In the context of climate warming, a better knowledge of the ability of dispersal-limited and habitat-specialist species to track climate change at local scale is urgently needed. Comparing the population genetic and demographic impacts of past climate cycles in multiple co-distributed species with similar ecological requirements help predicting the community-scale response to climate warming, but such comparative studies remain rare. Here, we studied the relationship between demographic history and past changes in spatial distribution of three protected peatland butterfly species (Boloria aquilonaris, Coenonympha tullia, Lycaena helle) in the Jura massif (France), using a genomic approach (ddRAD sequencing) and species distribution modeling (SDM). We found a similar and narrow thermal niche among species, and shared demographic histories of post-glacial decline and recent fragmentation of populations. Each species functions as a single metapopulation at the regional scale, with a North-South gradient of decreasing genetic diversity that fits the local dynamics of the ice cover over time. However, we found no correlation between changes in the quantity or the quality of suitable areas and changes in effective population size over time. This suggests that species ranges moved beyond the Jura massif during the less favorable climatic periods, and/or that habitat loss and deterioration are major drivers of the current dramatic decline observed in the three species. Our findings allow better understanding how history events and contemporary dynamics shape local biodiversity, providing valuable knowledge to identify appropriate conservation strategies.
... Spatially variable rates of change, whether spatially static in the long-term or not, occur over landscapes differing in habitat quality and the extent of habitat fragmentation. Species' demographic and evolutionary responses (fitness, survival, reproduction and population persistence) to climate change interact with landscape habitat fragmentation and quality (Polechová 2018;Sherpa et al. 2022;Johansson et al. 2022). For example, exposure to climate change can exacerbate contractions from low quality or fragmented habitat networks (Fritts et al. 2018;Johansson et al. 2020;Billman et al. 2021). ...
... Ecological traps can occur either when local climatic adaptations come at the expense of dispersive traits (Hargreaves and Eckert 2019), reducing the flow of adaptations across a species' range (Graae et al. 2018;Hargreaves and Eckert 2019;Sherpa et al. 2022), or in response to local biotic or abiotic factors resulting in maladaptive life-history strategies (Turner and Maclean 2022;Parmesan and Singer 2022). Ecological traps exacerbate the long-term threat of climate change to isolated populations adapted to a narrow range of climatic conditions (Hargreaves and Eckert 2019;Billman et al. 2021;Parmesan and Singer 2022), and need to be considered when implementing conservation recovery programmes. ...
... Adaptive capacity is further reduced where habitat fragmentation impedes gene flow across landscapes, leaving isolated populations more prone to genetic drift and inbreeding depression (Polechová 2018; Sherpa et al. 2022). However, gene flow from some parts of the range could be maladaptive depending on the prevailing climatic conditions in emigrant Landsc Ecol and immigrant populations (Van Dyck et al. 2015;Angert et al. 2020); thus it could be counterproductive to encourage range shifts from some populations. ...
Context
Efforts to adapt conservation to climate change often focus on facilitating range shifts to higher latitudes, by enhancing landscape capacity for poleward expansion. The need to protect populations at trailing edges of species distributions, and how and where to do so, has received less attention.
Objectives
We assess how population declines caused by variation over space and time in exposure to climate change can necessitate conservation adaptation to climate change throughout species’ geographic ranges. We propose approaches for conservation in landscapes where species are vulnerable.
Methods
We synthesize primary literature relating to recent landscape-scale changes to species distributions to identify evidence for patchy patterns of climate-driven decline. We use this evidence to propose a framework to adapt terrestrial species conservation.
Results
Patchy retractions occur throughout species ranges as environmental heterogeneity results in spatial variation in climate and rates of climate change, whereas equatorward range margins are often not the first place to exceed climatic limits. Furthermore, climate effects on fitness, survival and reproduction interact with habitat quality, creating both localized extinction hotspots and climatically resilient microrefugial landscapes across species ranges. Conservation can benefit from the identification of vulnerable versus microrefugial landscapes, and implementation of targeted interventions.
Conclusions
A focus on expansions and retractions at broad latitudinal range margins risks overlooking declines throughout species’ distributions. Understanding fine-resolution ecological responses to the climate can help to identify resilient microrefugial landscapes, and targeted management to promote cooler or more stable conditions can complement facilitation of broader-scale range shifts.
... Contemporary factors, including human-mediated factors, can also strongly affect geographic distributions and genetic variations within a population (Cao et al., 2017(Cao et al., , 2021Drahun et al., 2021;Xu et al., 2022). Determining how past and present factors have contributed to population genetic patterns enables a deeper understanding of the evolutionary history and ecological adaptations of a species, which contributes to the development of appropriate conservation and management strategies (Drahun et al., 2021;Jiang et al., 2022;Sherpa et al., 2022;Wang et al., 2021;Ye et al., 2022). ...
Aim
Research on population genetic patterns and potential distribution dynamics can provide insights into the development of pest management strategies. Herein, we integrated population genetic analyses with the climatic niche approach to investigate spatial population genetic variations and potential geographical distribution (PGD) of the herbivorous pest Phytomyza horticola. We also analysed its population response patterns to both late Pleistocene climatic events and future climate change.
Location
China.
Methods
We analysed the patterns of genetic diversity distribution in 29 populations from 19 regions across China using three mitochondrial (COI, COII and Cytb) genes as markers. We estimated demographic histories using neutrality tests, mismatch distributions and Bayesian skyline plots. Changes in PGD were assessed using an ecological niche model.
Results
High genetic diversity was found in most populations, and the northern population exhibited higher haplotype diversity. The population genetic structure included the Tibet lineage and a large lineage comprising the remaining populations. Demographic analyses indicated that rapid population expansion occurred during the cold Last Glacial Maximum. In addition, our projections suggested that P. horticola currently has a vast PGD in China, for which the human influence index was the strongest variable. Large areas of cold northern regions were highly suitable for its survival. Under future global warming, highly suitable habitats will shift towards the higher latitudes.
Main conclusions
P. horticola is widely distributed across varied environments, which may be attributed to its high degree of genetic variation. Human activities likely facilitated the current PGD and the frequent gene flow that homogenized differentiation among most populations. In addition, P. horticola exhibits strong adaptability to cold climates and environments from the past to the future. Considering future climatic changes, prevention and control should focus on high‐latitude regions, and vigilance regarding human‐mediated pest dispersals and outbreaks should be maintained.
... Comparative analyses of historical effective population sizes using two whole genomes [43,44] also indicate a large historical bottleneck event in the pre-establishment past of both native and non-native H. axyridis, along the timelines of the last glacial maximum (100,000 ybp-10,000 ybp). Similar declines with glacial recession have been reported in other insects, such as the scarce heath, Coenonympha hero [51], and the darkling beetle, Nyctelia confusa [52]. However, we found that the heterozygosity values (nuclear) were higher in non-native than in native populations. ...
Background
The harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), native to Asia, has been introduced to other major continents where it has caused serious negative impacts on local biodiversity. Though notable advances to understand its invasion success have been made during the past decade, especially with then newer molecular tools, the conclusions reached remain to be confirmed with more advanced genomic analyses and especially using more samples from larger geographical regions across the native range. Furthermore, although H. axyridis is one of the best studied invasive insect species with respect to life history traits (often comparing invasive and native populations), the traits responsible for its colonization success in non-native areas warrant more research.
Results
Our analyses of genome-wide nuclear population structure indicated that an eastern Chinese population could be the source of all non-native populations and revealed several putatively adaptive candidate genomic loci involved in body color variation, visual perception, and hemolymph synthesis. Our estimates of evolutionary history indicate (1) asymmetric migration with varying population sizes across its native and non-native range, (2) a recent admixture between eastern Chinese and American populations in Europe, (3) signatures of a large progressive, historical bottleneck in the common ancestors of both populations and smaller effective sizes of the non-native population, and (4) the southwest origin and subsequent dispersal routes within its native range in China. In addition, we found that while two mitochondrial haplotypes-Hap1 and Hap2 were dominant in the native range, Hap1 was the only dominant haplotype in the non-native range. Our laboratory observations in both China and USA found statistical yet slight differences between Hap1 and Hap2 in some of life history traits.
Conclusions
Our study on H. axyridis provides new insights into its invasion processes into other major continents from its native Asian range, reconstructs a geographic range evolution across its native region China, and tentatively suggests that its invasiveness may differ between mitochondrial haplotypes.
... Species that specialize in habitats with patchy distributions (i.e., habitats that are spatially disjunct on the landscape, such as high elevations, ephemeral pools, rock outcrops) are particularly at risk to habitat loss because habitat loss (quarrying, drainage, etc.) reduces the already limited availability of these patchy habitats across landscapes (Baguette 2004;Yanahan and Moore 2019). Populations of patchy-habitat specialists found along the margins of their geographic ranges are further jeopardized by climate change (Baguette 2004;Benedict et al. 2020;Sherpa et al. 2022) because the limits of thermal tolerance for a species may be reached around the margins of their distribution. In addition, abundance of species that rely on early succession forests, grasslands, or open rocky areas, including invertebrates (Korpela et al. 2015), reptiles (Pike et al. 2011), and mammals (Hunter and Cresswell 2014) has decreased as a result of growing forest cover due to altered natural ecological processes such as reductions in fire. ...
Understanding microhabitat use is needed to make sound conservation decisions for at-risk, patchy-habitat specialists, such as rock-habitat specialists. Rock habitats offer unique microclimatic refugia for reptiles and mammals. Eastern small-footed bats (Myotis leibii (Audubon and Bachman, 1842)) use rock roosts during the summer, but data on these summer roosts are lacking for this species classified as (critically) imperiled in several US states and Canadian provinces and globally endangered. Our goal was to characterize the structure and microclimate of Myotis leibii roosts at the southwestern periphery of their range. We predicted that Myotis leibii roost temperatures would be warmer and less variable than ambient temperatures and that solitary bats would use horizontal roosts cooler at night, whereas maternity group roosts would be vertical and warmer at night. During summers of 2019 and 2020, we recorded physical (e.g., width) and temperature attributes of 58 Myotis leibii roosts at 16 sites in the Ouachita Mountains. Crevice roosts of Myotis leibii had narrow dimensions like elsewhere in their range and roost temperatures (measured with iButtons) were warmer and more variable than ambient temperatures. Group roosts were larger and had more stable temperatures than solitary roosts. These findings may be useful for assessing population threats, monitoring roost suitability, identifying roost-rich areas that need protection, and even planning artificial roost structures where natural roosts are limited.
... Sherpa et al. (2022) evaluated the connectivity of populations of Coenonympha hero (Linnaeus, 1761) in the French Jura Mountains using ddRADseq loci. The authors identified severe demographic declines in pre-historical times but also more recently possibly because of increased human pressure. ...
1. Genomic data are not yet widely used in insect conservation practice. Here, with a focus on butterflies, we aim to identify the strengths, limitations and remaining gaps between the fields of population genomics and insect conservation management. Based on a literature search complemented with expert opinion, we discuss avenues for translating research into practice.
2. We found that current genomic methodologies available for insect management enhance the assessment of cryptic diversity and facilitate the inference of historical population trends (temporal monitoring) by using even degraded material from historical collections.
3. Discovering and tracking adaptive genetic variation linked to increased survival and fitness is a relatively young research field, but we highlight it as a promising tool in future insect management actions.
4. We highlight recent case studies where population genomics have guided butterfly conservation. One conclusion from our advice from our non-exhaustive survey of expert opinion is to establish meaningful partnerships between researchers and practitioners, starting at the stage of project planning. Genomics is an informative tool for securing legal protection of unique populations and may offer guidance in future conservation translocations and captive breeding programmes.
5. Although insect conservation usually targets habitats, genomic guidance focusing on populations of flagship and umbrella taxa is a straightforward path to connect species-specific and habitat conservation initiatives. We conclude that there is urgency in reporting insect conservation actions guided by genomic data, both successful and unsuccessful. This will lead to constructive feedback between fields and the establishment of standardised methodologies.
... Efforts to restore preferred habitats in Roslagen and Blekinge have resulted in temporary breaks in the negative population trends, but it is likely that more regular and large-scale restoration initiatives will be needed to prevent further population fragmentation (Holst et al. 2021) and loss of genetic diversity as a consequence of genetic drift and inbreeding (e.g. Frankham et al. 2012;Sherpa et al. 2021). ...
... The relatively high degree of kinship between individuals in Västernorrland indicates that the population might have been isolated for a longer time than the other natural populations in Sweden. It is reasonable to assume that the recolonization of Scandinavia can be characterized as a series of founder events and it is well established that the genetic variation generally decreases with distance from the center of a species' distribution range-the so called center-peripheryhypothesis (Eckert et al. 2008;Pironon et al. 2017;Sherpa et al. 2021). Since the population in Västernorrland was most likely established by migrants from mainland Finland, it is straightforward to assume that the population in Västernorrland has been comparatively more isolated (less geneflow with other populations) and this can have resulted in a higher level of inbreeding, and consequently higher intrapopulation kinship coefficients. ...
The clouded apollo ( Parnassius mnemosyne ) used to have a wide distribution in Fennoscandia. Recent population declines have, however, led to regional extinctions and in Sweden it is currently one of the most endangered butterflies, confined to three geographically separated metapopulations: Blekinge, Roslagen and Västernorrland. Especially the Blekinge population has declined dramatically and few imagines have been observed during recent census efforts (< 10 in some localities). The clouded apollo is subject to a species action plan which includes both habitat restorations and captive breeding to produce individuals for release and reintroductions. Here, we apply whole-genome resequencing of clouded apollo individuals collected in the three natural populations and the captive population in Sweden and apply population genomic approaches to get a better understanding of the genetic structure and levels of genetic diversity in the species. We find that the clouded apollo populations in the different geographic regions have similar, but comparatively low levels of genetic diversity and we find evidence for significant genetic differentiation between the northernmost population and the populations in southern Sweden. Additional analysis, including previously available mitochondrial data, unveil that a bi-directional re-colonization of Fennoscandia after the latest glacial maximum most likely is the explanation for the considerable differentiation between some Swedish populations. Finally, we find evidence for population sub-structure in one of the Swedish populations. The results provide insights into the genetic consequences of population size declines and fragmentation in general and provide important information for direct conservation actions for the clouded apollo in Sweden in particular.
... Additionally, as shown in this study, these sites are found at the margin of the distribution of the species. Populations at the limits of the range are generally small and geographically isolated, thus suffering demographic and stochastic environmental fluctuations which increase local extinction risk (Melbourne and Hastings 2008;Sherpa et al. 2022). ...
We provide an overview of the distribution, habitat preference, phenology, and conservation of Aeshna caerulea (Str€ om, 1793) and Aeshna subarctica elisabethae Djakonov, 1922 in Italy. Both species are found exclusively in the Central Eastern Alps. By 2021, A. caerulea has been reported for 31 sites, whereas A. s. elisabe-thae for 15. The new southernmost global range limit for A. caeru-lea was found in the Adamello massif and the new southernmost Western Palearctic limit for A. s. elisabethae in the Tesino plateau (Trentino-Alto Adige). Aeshna caerulea reproduces at high-altitude ponds or small lakes, inundated fens or fen meadows, and occasionally in the depressions within raised bogs. Aeshna s. elisabe-thae is found at lower altitudes, only at raised bogs and, to a lesser extent, in acidic transitional mires rich in Sphagnum mosses. Forty-six per cent of the reproduction sites of A. caerulea and 93% of those of A. s. elisabethae are included within a national/ local protected area or the Natura
