I am looking for some guidance towards endemism in moths. There is an appreciable literal account of endemism in butterflies. But literature regarding endemism of moths is scanty.
According to me the factors that drive endemism in vertebrate lineages is altitude (which corresponds to isolation in various direct or indirect aspects). Can this be applied to moths ?
Considering moths, an organism which shows high range of plasticity and tolerance towards adverse environments. Keeping in mind so many examples of global invasion of moths from mainly tropical climates to other countries.
Hi Harsimran:
Moths like butterflies assemblages have been widely used to estimate patterns of beta-diversity in forest ecosystems along an altitudinal gradients in different parts of the world. In the following article the authors found a number of endemic moth species that are restricted to high elevation forests above 900 m, so I would say that moths are also useful as bioindicators of beta diversity along gradients of altitud.
http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/42838/75409_1.pdf?sequence=1
Best wishes,
Luis Miguel Constantino
Hi,
there are many published cases of endemic moths speciated in insular systems (e.g. Hawaii) but presumably you are already familiar with them.
As for distributional patterns of endemic moths along elevational gradients, this very interesting paper may be useful:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23933710_Elevation_increases_in_moth_assemblages_over_42_years_on_a_tropical_mountain._Proc._Natl._Acad._Sci._USA_106_1479-1483
I hope this helps, all best
Danilo
Article Elevation increases in moth assemblages over 42 years on a t...
Its not so much that altitude drives endemism as it is the result of tectonic uplift. Lowland organisms are continually subject to tectonic uplift over geological time. Such tectonic disruption leads to spatial isolation and the potential for genetic isolation and divergence. This is why sometimes it is possible to find phylogenetic relationships between alpine and coastal species or higher taxa. One may find, for example, in New Guinea at thousands of feet in altitude, communities of plants that are usually characteristic of mangrove environments at the coast. As New Guinea rose from a former geosyncline it lifted the cosatal communities in the process and some survived to now be upland or subalpine. This is why some sea birds nest up in high or inland mountains. As their nesting sites where lifted up the birds kept returning to locations that were higher and higher. Moths are no exception to these processes. Of course some montain systems may be worn down again and so the process may go in reverse and a former mountain endemic now becomes a lowland endemic.
Check the work of the group of Konrad Fiedler - see
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Konrad_Fiedler?_sg=qjEfK0sct4yEVvvzy2x8vv3z9SqkGtcTXQOt6n410aQb5CjAekOU3d4owdatsi2R.jstnz7BBkdFbXnHMz-uLMwLkhbS2apENPl6JLuCIfR_Cc1Rfx9Ca-v9dfz_FFxlS.zUE_mZUOemrBXbE12Fo54zYxSVgAeT2uo40zlHeWL9RouwvhNjiUaWkNMeiQYFbo
Harsimran,
I think you can already discern from the previous answers you received, this is a complicated question with both geological and biological/ecological relationships involved. There is no simple answer, but the issue must obviously focus on food plant availability and on the degree of specialization to host plant which the particular moth species exhibits -- is it a generalist or a specifist. Once plant distributions are defined, climate impacts on moth distribution can begin to be recognized -- particularly where host plant geographic distribution exceeds distribution of the adult moth. Secondarily, moths can then be limited by competitive exclusion and predator/parasite presence or absence (which are also climate-sensitive to some degree). Perhaps this is all too obvious. I will suggest that tectonic effects are likely to be on a different time scale than those that result from relatively recent climate changes so availability of moth distribution data for the past century or two would be almost essential to precision of distribution changes. Museum and university collections are really important!
Thinking vertebrates probably will not help with moth distribution issues very much -- it may be detrimental so I advise that butterflies be substituted :).
Mark
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