A poorly known high-latitude parasitoid wasp community: unexpected diversity and dramatic changes through time.

ABSTRACT: Climate change will have profound and unanticipated effects on species distributions. The pace and nature of this change is largely unstudied, especially for the most diverse elements of terrestrial communities--the arthropods--here we have only limited knowledge concerning the taxonomy and the ecology of these groups. Because Arctic ecosystems have already experienced significant increases in temperature over the past half century, shifts in community structure may already be in progress. Here we utilise collections of a particularly hyperdiverse insect group--parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera; Braconidae; Microgastrinae)--at Churchill, Manitoba, Canada in the early and mid-twentieth century to compare the composition of the contemporary community to that present 50-70 years ago. Morphologica

SUBMITTER: Fernandez-Triana J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3163582 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature