Climate change, phenology, and butterfly host plant utilization.

ABSTRACT: Knowledge of how species interactions are influenced by climate warming is paramount to understand current biodiversity changes. We review phenological changes of Swedish butterflies during the latest decades and explore potential climate effects on butterfly-host plant interactions using the Orange tip butterfly Anthocharis cardamines and its host plants as a model system. This butterfly has advanced its appearance dates substantially, and its mean flight date shows a positive correlation with latitude. We show that there is a large latitudinal variation in host use and that butterfly populations select plant individuals based on their flowering phenology. We conclude that A. cardamines is a phenological specialist but a host species generalist. This implies that thermal plasticity for sp

SUBMITTER: Navarro-Cano JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4289000 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature