Beetles on the Move

Is climate change driving ground beetles (or carabids) out of their homes? A team of researchers that included Filippo Giorgi, head of the Earth System Physics (ESP) section at ICTP, and Laura Mariotti, ESP postdoctoral fellow, has gathered data that suggests rising temperatures might have caused underground cave-dwelling beetles to expand their habitats.

Some species of ground beetles, which are well adapted to an underground environment, are now being discovered in well-aired cavities and superficial underground compartments. The researchers hypothesize that this move might be linked to increasing temperatures over the past century.

"Carabids usually stay deep to avoid freezing temperatures near the surface. Now they are finding that warmer winter temperatures provide them with better living environments near the surface," says Giorgi.

The team studied the rate of discovery of new species of ground beetles and found that there was a peak during the 1920-30s and then in 1970, periods which are associated with warming trends. The findings are published in the paper "Hypogean carabid beetles as indicators of global warming?" in Environmental Research Letters.