Direct and indirect effects of climate change on functional traits and composition of beetles in Europe

Abstract

Insects and plants comprise a large amount of biodiversity in terrestrial habitats and provide important functions to our ecosystems. However, climate change is predicted to alter plant-in- sect interactions through several mechanisms. Climate may directly affect insects by changing their physiology and metabolism. In addition, climate may indirectly affect them via changes in the plant community. Enhancing our under- standing of those direct and indirect effects is crucial to predict how plant-insect interactions and the functions they provide might change in the future. The use of trait-based approaches has increasingly gained attention, as it can enhance our understanding of the mechanisms by which climate change affects communities and species interactions. However, our knowledge on how the functional composition of insects is affected by climate is very limited. This Postdoc project there- fore aims to deepen our understanding of how climate change directly and indirectly affect the diversity and functional composition of insects. I will take advantage of available insect samples from more than 60 sites in Europe, collected for an ongoing global research network, the BugNet. On those, I will measure functional traits that respond to changes in climate or plant community characteristics. Using modern statistical tools will allow me to disentangle the relative importance of direct and indirect effects of climate. This project will substantially contribute to our understanding of how anthropogenic climate change impacts insect community assembly and related ecosys- tem functions.