image: This is a close-up of pinned tiger swallowtail butterflies. view more
Credit: PNAS
A study examines links between climate change and breeding zones of two butterfly species that interbreed at the edge of their geographic ranges. Climate change can influence the geographic distribution of species. However, how climate change affects hybridizing species remains unclear. Sean Ryan and colleagues examined whether recent climate warming was linked with the movement of the hybrid zone of eastern (Papilio glaucus) and Canadian (Papilio canadensis) tiger swallowtail butterflies in North America. The authors devised a simulation model and used molecular and morphological markers to examine hybrid zone movement from 1980 to 2012 in Wisconsin. The simulations predicted an approximately 68 km northward shift of the hybrid zone, compared with a 40 km northward movement of the hybrid zone based on analysis of present-day and museum specimens. The model simulations also suggest that continued warming is likely to produce substantial variation in the movement of the butterfly hybrid zone throughout eastern North America, ranging from 55 to 144 km for each 1°C change in temperature. The authors suggest that such variation might result in differing evolutionary responses across hybrid zones, findings with potential implications for protecting biodiversity under climate change.
Article #17-14950: "Climate-mediated hybrid zone movement revealed with genomics, museum collection, and simulation modeling," by Sean Ryan et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Sean Ryan, University of Notre Dame, IN; tel: 408-391-5960; e-mail: <citscisean@gmail.com>
###