Evaluation of moth-trap data from Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire, 1966-2001: possible effects of changing climate on Macrolepidoptera

摘要

As well as changes to the current distribution of tiees and the composition and the character of woodlands (Berry et al., 2002), climate change is expected to affect forests indirectly by modifying the distribution and abundance of insect herbivore species (Evans, Straw & Watt, 2002). Native and non-native trees in the U.K.. are defoliated by several species of Macrolepidoptera, for example Operophtera brumata (Linnaeus), Erannis defoliaria (Clerck), Agriopis aumntiaria (Hubner) and Alsophila aescularia ([Denis & Schiffermuller]), and it is expected that climate change will alter the timing of life-cycle events and the frequency, intensity and duration of outbreaks (Department of the Environment, 1996; Cannon, 1998). Past outbreaks have caused localised and sometimes severe and prolonged defoliation (Anonymous, 1979; Packham et al., 1992; Harding, 2002).