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Bavaria instead of the Mediterranean: The fire dragonfly, which came to southern Germany in the 1990s, is now widespread there
Photo: M. Kuehn / blickwinkel / IMAGO
Above all, climate change poses difficulties for people, animals and plants.
However, some thermophilic species also benefit from this in certain regions, as researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) show in a study.
To do this, they evaluated data from the Bavarian State Office for the Environment (LfU), which includes around 3.1 million species records in Bavaria.
In their study, the scientists focused on a good 200 species of insects - specifically 120 butterflies, 50 grasshoppers and 60 dragonflies.
It was found that the warmth-loving species flourished, while the occurrence of species adapted to cooler temperatures declined.
The grey-blue blue (a butterfly), the crab beetle (a grasshopper) and the fire dragonfly are heat-adapted.
»The fire dragonfly is one of the best-known beneficiaries of global warming.
The dragonfly, originally widespread in the Mediterranean region, first appeared in Bavaria in the early 1990s and is now widespread,” said Christian Hof, head of the BioChange research group at TUM.
The cold-adapted species include the Alpine Fritillary, the Alpine Mountain Cricket or the Little Mossy Damsel.
Butterflies and grasshoppers have seen more declines than increases, while dragonflies have shown mostly positive trends, it said.
"One possible reason for this is the improvement in water quality over the last few decades, which is particularly beneficial for dragonflies that depend on water habitats." According to the study, the population of those species that are adapted to very specific ecosystems, such as butterflies such as the large meadow bird or the high moor blue.
"Our study proves that the effects of climate change are also leaving clear traces in our native insect fauna," says Diana Bowler from the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), which was involved in the study.
The study also shows how exciting results can be obtained from existing government data sets.
Such records should be accessed more often, Bowler said.
ak/dpa