Perspectives on Beetles and Climate Change

The response of beetles to climate change during the Quaternary Period is reviewed for the purpose of evaluating their future response to global warming. Beetles responded to Quaternary climatic changes mostly by dispersal, which ultimately led to large scale changes in geographic distribution. Fragmentation and isolation of populations associated with climate change did not result in either higher rates of speciation or extinction, although local extinctions occurred when dispersal routes were blocked by barriers. Studies from archeological and late Holocene sites indicate that the fragmentation of the natural landscape by human activities had as great an impact on the local diversity of beetle populations as did climate change. Habitat reduction and fragmentation continues today and is making species increasingly vulnerable to extinction. The major difference between the future and past responses of beetles to climate change is that extinction rates are expected to be much higher, independent of whether the causes of climate change are natural or anthropogenic. The question of determining whether global warming has natural or anthropogenic causes is important because of the ethical implications of extinction. INTRODUCTION J. B. S. Haldane, the legendary British evolutionary biologist, is attributed with one of the most famous quips in biology. When asked what he could infer about the creator from his biological studies, he is said to have replied “an inordinate fondness for beetles.” Whether or not Haldane actually made this irreverent response is open to question (Gould, 1995). What is not in question is the diversity of beetles implied in Haldane’s witticism. In Haldane’s day estimates for the numbers of beetle species were in the tens of thousands. Currently, the estimates range between 1.25 and 7.5 million species (Hammond, 1992; Erwin, 1997; Stork, 1997). Beetles are the most diverse group of organisms on Earth, accounting for about 20% of all species (Erwin, 1997). Coleoptera (sheathed-wings) or beetles are an order within the class Insecta that occur in most freshwater and terrestrial habitats, including those of remote islands. Beetles are ubiquitous, occurring in the wettest rain forests and in the most arid deserts. There are species with physiologies adapted to survive periodic below freezing temperatures of high arctic summers. There are even species adapted to the littoral zone, where they survive daily tidal inundation by burrowing in sand. Antarctica is the only continent today that does not have an indigenous beetle fauna. A few species have been reported from the Antarctic Peninsula but all of them were probably introduced by humans. Beetles were present in the interior of Antarctica, however, until the Neogene. They became extinct with the growth of the polar icesheet and the Ashworth, A. C., 2001, Chapter 8: Perspectives on Quaternary Beetles and Climate Change. In (L. C. Gerhard, W. E. Harrison, and B. M. Hanson, eds.), 153168, Geological Perspectives of Global Climate Change. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Studies in Geology #47, Tulsa, Oklahoma. climate change to ultracold and ultraxeric conditions (Ashworth et al., 1997). Most beetles are small organisms, ranging in length from 0.25 mm to several centimeters. Average length is estimated to be in the range of 4-5 mm (Crowson, 1981). Small size has ensured that their activities mostly go unnoticed. The sheer numbers of species, however, makes them important members of all terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Because of their abundance, beetles are important food items for numerous species of reptiles, birds, small mammals and fish. Beetles are also important agricultural and forestry pests, with numerous species being injurious to crops, trees, and stored products (Patterson et al., 1999). Their most important beneficial roles, as pollinators and as recyclers of nutrients, are activities which ensure the health of ecosystems. Several of the world’s leading biologists believe an extinction crisis faces the Earth that has the potential to match or exceed the mass extinctions at the close of the Permian and Cretaceous Periods. The biggest problem facing beetles is the destruction of natural habitat by human activities. It is a sad commentary that for undescribed species the chance of extinction is greater than the chance of being described (Stork, 1997). The threat of extinction is most acute in tropical regions, but problems exist for beetle species in all densely populated areas. Record keeping is so inadequate that even in more affluent nations it is difficult to assess the number of species that have become extinct during the last century. In the United Kingdom, 64 of about 4000 species of beetles have not been collected for more than 100 years and are assumed to be locally extinct (extirpated). In addition, there are perhaps the same number not categorized as ‘extinct’ but which have not been found for several decades (Hyman and Parsons, 1992; 1994). The locally extinct species are of various ecological types, but the majority are either wetland or forest-floor species. Populations of some of these species survive in isolated patches of old growth forests in Europe, but several others have not been collected in many years and are suspected of being extinct throughout their entire geographic ranges (P. M. Hammond, British Museum of Natural History, London, personal communication, 2000). In North America, there is insufficient data to make a similar assessment of the status of the entire beetle fauna. Data that are available for the Cicindelidae, or tiger beetles , suggest that 19% of tiger beetle species are in a vulnerable to critically imperiled condition (Stein et al, 2000). The tiger beetles are just one of more than 100 families of beetles in North America, and their vulnerability to extinction is probably typical. Most beetle diversity is now concentrated in isolated patches. Even in the absence of climate change, natural habitats will shrink and beetles will become extinct as the world’s population, now at more than six billion, grows at a rate of about one billion people a decade. How will climate change impact an already stressed biota? Lovejoy (1997) wrote that human activity has created an obstacle course for the dispersal of biodiversity and that climate change, even a natural one, could precipitate one of the greatest biotic crises of all time. Is the situation really as bad as Lovejoy paints it or is he indulging in hyperbole? How can we assess the response of beetles to future climate change? Insect collections provide information that the geographic ranges of some species have changed during the last century. Separating out cause The tigers beetles are placed in the tribe Cicindelini, family Carabidae, by some taxonomists and effect from this type of data, however, has proved to be very difficult (Ashworth, 1996; 1997). Experimental physiological data have also been used to predict the future response of species (Patterson et al. 1999). These data, however, are only available for a few beetle species that are of economic significance. In this paper, the response of beetles to Quaternary climatic changes and to human activities is examined for the purpose of speculating on how beetles will respond to future climate change. QUATERNARY BEETLE FOSSILS Quaternary beetle fossils consist mostly of disarticulated exoskeletons; setae and scales are frequently preserved, as are pigmented and structural colors (Figure 1). Fossils of sclerotized internal structures, such as the male genitalia, also occur as fossils.