LONDON: A research paper published in the Journal of Animal Ecology has unveiled about subtle changes happening in the world owing to climate change. The researchers have shown how climate change has affected insect species that were gathered from the rooftop of the Natural History Museum of Denmark.
Study researchers affirmed that more than 1,500 inspect species were collected from the rooftop. They noticed that the insects, which have liking for warm weather started becoming more prevalent. On the other hand, insects having preference for cold climates started disappearing.
Study’s lead researcher Peter Søgaard Jørgensen from the University of Copenhagen said, “The results confirm that climate change is impacting biodiversity right now. It is not something that will happen far into the future or only if we reach a two degree temperature increase”.
The researchers shared as to how they actually started this project. The study started as a hobby for two staff members of the museum. Both of them started collecting and identifying insects from the museum’s rooftops. They carried out this work on continuous basis from 1992 to 2009.
A look at the collection unveiled about a decline in species diversity. In the study, more than 250,000 individuals were collected. It was found that insect community has completely changed during the study period.
Jørgensen said that they might lose some specialist species that may move to north. But new specialist species will arrive from south.
