The impact of climate change on the thermal ecology of cold-adapted butterflies

该项目将调查气温上升如何影响英国北方蝴蝶，并测试管理栖息地以促进气候变化适应的潜力。它为生态学家提供了一个令人兴奋的机会，对保护感兴趣，并希望利用遥感和小气候建模方面的最先进技术进行关键研究，以影响保护实践。适应寒冷的物种，特别是蝴蝶，非常容易受到气候变化的影响，正在成为英国和全球的首要保护重点。该项目将探讨成年和幼虫蝴蝶如何在一系列栖息地进行温度调节，温度调节行为在物种之间以及不同海拔和/或纬度（英格兰西北部和苏格兰）的种群之间如何不同。该项目的一个关键要素是将从实地数据收集的联合收割机证据，包括实验性植被操作，与景观尺度的小气候建模和遥感数据相结合，以了解地形和生境结构的细微变化如何影响适冷和通才蝴蝶物种的当地分布、丰度和种群趋势。最终目的是测试管理栖息地的缓解措施，以增加景观中较冷地点的可用性，并提高物种的持久性-特别是对适应寒冷的物种。学生将使用现场和建模技术相结合，获得行为观察，微气候建模和激光雷达/GIS技术的技能。该项目将涉及在英格兰西北部和苏格兰的大量实地考察，与来自兰开斯特，剑桥和埃克塞特大学以及CEH和RSPB的研究人员合作。成功的学生将受益于与RSPB一起度过大量时间，在RSPB的Haweswater保护区进行实地考察，并在RSPB的爱丁堡保护科学中心与Steven Ewing合作一个月。该项目将有助于为RSPB和其他保护组织的保护实践提供信息。

The project will investigate how increasing temperatures are affecting northern butterflies in the UK, and test the potential for managing habitats to promote climate change adaptation. It provides an exciting opportunity for an ecologist, with an interest in conservation and a desire to undertake crucial research using state of the art techniques in remote sensing and microclimate modelling, to affect conservation practices. Cold-adapted species, particularly butterflies, are highly vulnerable to climate change and are becoming a top conservation priority both in the UK and globally. The project will explore how adult and larval butterflies thermoregulate in a range of habitats, how thermoregulation behaviour differs among species, and among populations at different altitudes and/or latitudes (NW England and Scotland). A key element of the project will be to combine evidence gathered from field data, including experimental vegetation manipulations, with microclimate modelling and remote sensing data at landscape scales, to understand how fine-scale variation in topography and habitat structure influence the local distribution, abundance and population trends of cold-adapted and generalist butterfly species. The final aim is to test mitigation measures for managing habitats to increase the availability of cooler spots in the landscape and enhance species persistence - in particular for cold-adapted species. The student will use a combination of field and modelling techniques, gaining skills in behavioural observation, microclimate modelling and Lidar/GIS techniques. The project will involve substantial fieldwork in NW England and Scotland, working with a collaborative team of researchers from Lancaster, Cambridge and Exeter University,as well as CEH and RSPB.The successful student will benefit from spending significant time with RSPB, undertaking fieldwork at RSPB's Haweswater reserve and a one-month placement in RSPB's Centre for Conservation Science in Edinburgh to work with Steven Ewing. The project will help inform conservation practice in RSPB, and other conservation organisations.