Wing lengths of three Arctic butterfly species decrease as summers warm
in Alaska
Abstract
Climate warming can cause arthropods to express plastic and/or evolved
changes in morphology. Previous studies have demonstrated that body
sizes of Arctic butterflies are influenced by the temperatures
experienced as larvae. To investigate whether this was occurring among
Alaskan butterflies, we analyzed temporal trends in the wing sizes of
three Holarctic species, Colias hecla, Boloria chariclea, and Boloria
freija, using museum specimens collected in Arctic tundra regions of
Alaska between 1971 and 1995. Wing length was compared to accumulated
growing degree days (GDD) during both the spring of the year collected
and the previous year’s summer during the normal period of larval
development. We used mixed-effects models to test if spring and summer
temperatures affected adult morphology. Results show that for every 1°C
increase in average seasonal temperature, wingspans decreased between
0.7 millimeters and 5 millimeters, with B. freija the most strongly
affected. Our results suggest that the morphological sensitivity of
Arctic butterflies to warming is the outcome of interactions between
life-history traits and regional climate, with all species sensitive to
warming the summer before the flight year as well as warming the spring
of the flight year. B. freija, which overwinters as late instar larvae
that do not feed before pupation the following spring, was particularly
strongly affected by summer warming.