Appendix S4 - Climate change drives mountain butterflies towards the summits - Scientific Reports

Appendix S4 to:

Climate change drives mountain butterflies towards the summits

Dennis Rödder1, Thomas Schmitt2,3, Patrick Gros4, Werner Ulrich5 & Jan Christian Habel6*

1Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, D-53113 Bonn, Germany

2Senckenberg German Entomological Institute, Eberswalder Straße 90, D-15374 Müncheberg

3Department of Zoology, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences I, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, D-06099 Halle (Saale), Germany

4Haus der Natur, Museumsplatz 5, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria

5Department of Ecology and Biogeography, Nicolaus Copernicus University Toruń, 87-100 Toruń, Poland

6Evolutionary Zoology, Department of Biosciences, University of Salzburg, A-5020, Salzburg, Austria

*Corresponding author: Jan Christian Habel, Evolutionary Zoology, Department of Biosciences, University of Salzburg, A-5020, Salzburg, Austria, E-mail: Janchristian.habel@sbg.ac.at

Published in Scientific Reports 2021

Climate change impacts biodiversity and is driving range shifts of species and populations across the globe. To understand the effects of climate warming on biota, long-term observations of the occurrence of species and detailed knowledge on their ecology and life-history is crucial. Mountain species particularly suffer under climate warming and often respond to environmental changes by altitudinal range shifts. We assessed long-term distribution trends of mountain butterflies across the eastern Alps and calculated species´ specific annual range shifts based on field observations and species distribution models, counterbalancing the potential drawbacks of both approaches. We also compiled details on the ecology, behaviour and life-history, and the climate niche of each species assessed. We found that the highest altitudinal maxima were observed recently in the majority of cases, while the lowest altitudes of observations were recorded before 1980. Mobile and generalist species with a broad ecological amplitude tended to more uphill move than specialist and sedentary species. As main drivers, we identified climatic conditions and topographic variables, such as insolation and solar irradiation. This study provides important evidence for responses of high mountain taxa to rapid climate change. Our study underlines the advantage of combining historical surveys and museum collection data with cutting-edge analyses.

Appendix S4 shows the summary statistics and individual responses of all studied species to contemporary climatic fluctuations as animations.