Image: Chalkhill blue butterflies mating. Edgar Turner

Managing reserves for climate resilience  

Supervisor: Prof Edgar Turner

Co-supervisor: Dr Andrew Bladon

This project will work with CASE Partner, the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN), to investigate the impacts of alternative management options for developing more varied and resilient reserves, to help buffer species from the impacts of climate change. The project will use butterflies as its focal taxon, and build on previous collaborative research, which has investigated mechanisms by which butterflies control their temperature, and has established experimental projects investigating management options to support diverse microclimatic conditions on reserves. In particular, this project will assess butterfly selection of different microclimates across an assemblage of species, through direct observations on WTBCN reserves, as well as lab-based experiments.

Rising average temperatures and increasingly extreme climatic events are placing severe pressures on natural ecosystems worldwide. While reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a key priority, conservation management at a more local scale can also help species to cope with the impacts of temperature change. For example, research has demonstrated the key role that habitat heterogeneity can play in buffering species from the impacts of climate change.  This project will work at the local reserve scale to investigate species’ selection and use of microhabitats with varying microclimatic conditions, across an assemblage of UK butterfly species. Findings will inform management of reserves to mitigate the impacts of future warming on species. The project relies on a close collaboration with the WTBCN, and data collection will include citizen science approaches, working with a network of volunteers, thereby also enhancing public knowledge and engagement with research and conservation.

References

Bladon A, Lewis M, Bladon E, Buckton S, Corbett S, Ewing S, Hayes M, Hitchcock G, Knock R, Lucas C, McVeigh A, Menendez R, Walker J, Fayle T, Turner EC (2020). How butterflies keep their cool: physical and ecological traits influence thermoregulatory ability and population trends. Journal of Animal Ecology 89, 2440-2450

Hayes MP, Ashe-Jepson E, Bladon A, Hitchcock GE, Knock RI, Lucas CBH, Turner EC (2021) Consistent oviposition preferences of the Duke of Burgundy butterfly over 14 years on a chalk grassland reserve in Bedfordshire. Journal of Insect Conservation 25, pages 611–628

Suggitt, Andrew J.; Wilson, Robert J.; Isaac, Nick J.B.; Beale, Colin M.; Auffret, Alistair G.; August, Tom; Bennie, Jonathan J.; Crick, Humphrey Q.P.; Duffield, Simon; Fox, Richard; Hopkins, John J.; Macgregor, Nicholas A.; Morecroft, Mike D.; Walker, Kevin J.; Maclean, Ilya M.D.. 2018. Extinction risk from climate change is reduced by microclimatic buffering. Nature Climate Change, 8 (8). 713-717