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Identifying environmental drivers of insect phenology across space and time: Culicoides in Scotland as a case study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2012

K.R. Searle ,
A. Blackwell ,
D. Falconer ,
M. Sullivan ,
A. Butler  and
B.V. Purse
K.R. Searle*
Affiliation:
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bush Estate, Edinburgh, EH26 0QB
A. Blackwell
Affiliation:
Advanced Pest Solutions Ltd, Prospect Business Centre, Gemini Crescent, Dundee Technology Park, Dundee, DD2 1T
D. Falconer
Affiliation:
Advanced Pest Solutions Ltd, Prospect Business Centre, Gemini Crescent, Dundee Technology Park, Dundee, DD2 1T
M. Sullivan
Affiliation:
Advanced Pest Solutions Ltd, Prospect Business Centre, Gemini Crescent, Dundee Technology Park, Dundee, DD2 1T
A. Butler
Affiliation:
Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, James Clerk Maxwell Building, The King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ
B.V. Purse
Affiliation:
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bush Estate, Edinburgh, EH26 0QB
*
*Author for correspondence Fax: +44 (0)131 4453943 E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Interpreting spatial patterns in the abundance of species over time is a fundamental cornerstone of ecological research. For many species, this type of analysis is hampered by datasets that contain a large proportion of zeros, and data that are overdispersed and spatially autocorrelated. This is particularly true for insects, for which abundance data can fluctuate from zero to many thousands in the space of weeks. Increasingly, an understanding of the ways in which environmental variation drives spatial and temporal patterns in the distribution, abundance and phenology of insects is required for management of pests and vector-borne diseases. In this study, we combine the use of smoothing techniques and generalised linear mixed models to relate environmental drivers to key phenological patterns of two species of biting midges, Culicoides pulicaris and C. impunctatus, of which C. pulicaris has been implicated in transmission of bluetongue in Europe. In so doing, we demonstrate analytical tools for linking the phenology of species with key environmental drivers, despite using a relatively small dataset containing overdispersed and zero-inflated data. We demonstrate the importance of landcover and climatic variables in determining the seasonal abundance of these two vector species, and highlight the need for more empirical data on the effects of temperature and precipitation on the life history traits of palearctic Culicoides spp. in Europe.

Keywords

climateinsect phenologylandcoverspatio-temporal patternsvector-borne disease
Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 103 , Issue 2 , April 2013 , pp. 155 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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