Insects: Winners and losers of climate change

Global warming is shrinking the habitat where bumblebees can live in North America and Europe. These pollinators in particular tend to overheat due to their large size, dark color and hairy bodies. Bumblebees are unable to quickly migrate to cooler climes because they depend on specific plant species to survive. Thus, managed relocation might be required to protect them from extinction.

In contrast to bumblebees, honeybees are more likely to survive in a warmer environment. But climate change is affecting them by creating mismatches: flowers are blooming earlier due to rising temperatures, before many bees get a chance to taste the flowers. So when bees finally do begin their busy work, there is limited nectar available and more competition for resources to survive.

The Edith's checkerspot butterfly lives on parts of the North American Pacific coast. Its main food source - the dwarf plantain - is maturing earlier as a result of global warming, making it less available to checkerspot caterpillars. Scientists are looking more to butterflies for modeling climate change effects, since there are many good datasets for the fragile order Lepidoptera.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the glacier stonefly is an excellent indicator of the health of its freshwater habitats. This tiny aquatic insect is another victim of climate change, due to its sensitivity to changes in water quality and dependence on high-alpine, glacier-fed melt-water streams in Glacier National Park in the US state of Montana.

The Beydaglari bush-cricket is considered critically endangered, since a population on the Mount Tahtali is extinct and the only remaining one lives at an altitude of 1,800 meters (5,905 feet). Since the species is flightless, it is not able to re-colonize potentially restored habitats. So like the bumblebee, assisted relocation might be necessary to preserve the species.

But climate change has its winners in the insect world as well. With its predilection for warm weather, ticks that carry potentially fatal diseases are gaining more territory than ever - thanks to climate change. Milder and shorter winters are encouraging an increase in tick populations, and for example across the US, cases of Lyme disease have doubled in recent years.

Thanks to global warming, ants may also be on the rise. The warmth-loving fire ant is very active and aggressive, and its omnivorous diet includes insects, earthworms, ticks, spiders, arthropod eggs, honeydew and other sweets. They are literally taking over territories where they are not supposed to be, as climate change makes new areas suitable for them to thrive.

The green shield bug was previously isolated to warm areas in North America, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Australia and Africa. But some years ago, it started showing up in the United Kingdom, in cold areas theoretically not suitable as its home. And since the green shield bug eats and destroys all kinds of crops, it is becoming a problem for British farmers.

The Asian tiger mosquito, a robust species that lays its eggs near water, spreads viruses such as chikungunya, dengue, and West Nile. The mosquito is continuing to invade northerly regions of the globe, were winters are becoming warmer and wetter. So next time you hear a buzzing late at night, think of how this little mosquito is winning big due to climate change.