Climate change impacts on bumblebees converge across continents

Kerr, J. T., Pindar, A., Galpern, P., Packer, L., Potts, S. G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2045-980X, Roberts, S. M., Rasmont, P., Schweiger, O., Colla, S. R., Richardson, L. L., Wagner, D. L., Gall, L. F., Sikes, D. S. and Pantoja, A. (2015) Climate change impacts on bumblebees converge across continents. Science, 349 (6244). pp. 177-180. ISSN 1095-9203 doi: 10.1126/science.aaa7031

Abstract/Summary

For many species, geographical ranges are expanding toward the poles in response to climate change, while remaining stable along range edges nearest the equator. Using long-term observations across Europe and North America over 110 years, we tested for climate change–related range shifts in bumblebee species across the full extents of their latitudinal and thermal limits and movements along elevation gradients. We found cross-continentally consistent trends in failures to track warming through time at species’ northern range limits, range losses from southern range limits, and shifts to higher elevations among southern species. These effects are independent of changing land uses or pesticide applications and underscore the need to test for climate impacts at both leading and trailing latitudinal and thermal limits for species.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/85717
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development > Department of Sustainable Land Management > Centre for Agri-environmental Research (CAER)
Publisher	American Association for the Advancement of Science
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item