The seasonal emergence of adult arctic arthropods (i.e. A particularly strong response to climatic conditions can be expected in high-arctic arthropods since they are poikilothermic and because the abiotic conditions of the High Arctic are generally close to the minimum requirements for locomotion. herbivores, predators or pollinators) and the activity level of the individuals. The major controls of such processes are the population size of the functional group (e.g. This underscores the urgency for achieving a better understanding of how climate affects ecological processes like herbivory, predation and pollination. ![]() The earth is undergoing climatic changes and the model predictions for the high-arctic climate are particularly dramatic. An advancement of the phenology may expose surface-dwelling arthropods to higher levels of solar radiation, which suggest that their locomotory performance is enhanced and their contribution to ecological processes is increased. In contrast, we found that solar radiation is a better proxy of activity levels than air temperature in surface-dwelling arthropods. Hence, the effect of climatic changes on the activity pattern in this group may be unchanged. An advancement of the phenology in this group due to earlier snowmelt will make individuals appear earlier in the season, but parallel temperature increases could mean that individuals are exposed to similar temperatures. ConclusionĬonsistent with previous findings, air temperature best explained variation in the activity level of flying insects. After accounting for the seasonal phenological development, the most important weather variable influencing the capture rate of flying arthropods was temperature, while surface-dwelling species were principally influenced by solar radiation. The non-linear proxy of density always accounted for more of the variation than the linear component of weather. We were able to statistically separate the variation in capture rates into a non-linear component of capture date (density) and a linear component of weather (activity). We used arthropod pitfall trapping data and weather data from 10 seasons in high-arctic Greenland to identify climatic effects on the activity pattern of nine arthropod taxa. The capture rate of arthropods in passive open traps like pitfall trap integrates density and activity and, therefore, serves as a proxy of the magnitude of such arthropod-related ecological processes. Earlier emergence due to advanced timing of snowmelt following climate change may expose adult arthropods to unchanged temperatures but higher levels of radiation. However, density and activity may be sensitive to separate components of climate. ![]() Arthropods play an important role in the high-arctic ecosystem and this role is determined by their density and activity. Climate change is particularly pronounced in the High Arctic and a better understanding of the repercussions on ecological processes like herbivory, predation and pollination is needed.
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