The reproduction of burying beetles is affected by differing daylengths, while they develop different survival mechanisms at varied elevations and latitudes, Academia Sinica Biodiversity Research Center associate research fellow Shen Sheng-feng (沈聖峰) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
The research team studied the behavior of burying beetles (Nicrophorus nepalensis), which are found across mountains in Asia and are sensitive to temperature changes, to examine the environmental adaptability of different populations of the species, Shen said.
Over the past three years, the team sampled beetles at nearly 327 locations in varying elevations on five mountain ranges in Asia, Shen said.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
They included two low mountain ranges: Wulai (烏來) in Taiwan, ranging from 200m to 900m above sea level, and Amami Oshima in Japan, ranging from 60m to 700m; and three high mountain ranges — Taiwan’s Lalashan (拉拉山), ranging from 400m to 2,000m, and Hehuanshan (合歡山), ranging from 500m to 3,200m, and China’s Jiajinshan, ranging from 800m to 4,100m, their study showed.
To focus on their genetic traits, the team bred the beetles in a laboratory and studied their offspring, Shen said.
The beetles appear in areas with similar temperature ranges, but differ in their reproductive photoperiodism — their physiological reactions to varying lengths of sunlight, the team found.
Those at intermediate elevations, such as some on Hehuanshan and Lalashan, can breed in different seasons with varying daylengths, but in the team’s simulated scenarios of warmer environments, they are most susceptible to warming, as they might not be able to find places to escape the heat, he said.
Those at lower elevations can only breed at times with shorter daylengths, while those in higher mountains, such as on Jiajinshan, can only breed at times with longer daylengths, he said.
Even if the beetles at lower elevations emerged from cocoons in times with longer daylengths, they were not sexually mature, he said.
After moving the beetles to habitats of varied elevations, the team found that they could not adapt to their new environment, confirming that their photoperiodism is locally adapted, he said.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications in March, and included contributions from National Cheng Kung University associate professor Chen I-ching (陳一菁), Columbia University associate professor Dustin Rubenstein and Chinese Academy of Sciences member Tang Yezhong (唐業忠).
Shen said that their findings can be applied to understanding the effect of climate change on other species, as they highlight the importance of studying different populations of a species, instead of a species as a whole, which was largely ignored in previous biodiversity studies.
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