Male dragonflies are losing the black ornamentation on the surface of their transparent wings, which helps them find a mating partner.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himIt is black decorations that males use in courtship rituals to attract females, which cause overheating of the wings in the areas most affected by global warming. This leads the female dragonflies to no longer recognize the males of their own species.
Male dragonflies have black ornamental decorations on the surface of their transparent wings, which help them find a mating partner. Now a new study conducted by the University of St. Louis (Washington) highlights how, with the evolution of the species in adaptation to climate change, these 'arabesques' are disappearing in areas where the climate is warmer.
The results of the research highlight the changes made by different organisms to adapt to the changing environment and how this characteristic that the males of the species are losing affects much more than mere mating rituals.
Adaptation to climate change manifests itself in different ways depending on the species - explains the biologist Michael Moore, who collaborated on the study. - It seems that this characteristic of dragonflies, connected to their mating rituals and their reproductive capacity, could have important consequences for their survival in different parts of North America, depending on how warmer or cooler the climate is.
Beyond their function for reproduction, in fact, having a dark pigmentation on the wings can increase the temperature of dragonflies up to 2 ° C more, which is a lot: while pigmentation can help males find their mates, excessive heat can cause them to overheat in already very hot places on the planet.
In fact, researchers have observed how such an increase in temperature can permanently damage the tissue of the wings, reducing the ability of dragonflies to fly and even leading them to death from excessive heat. This looming threat would explain why dragonfly males are changing the coloration of their wings to less intense pigmentation.
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For this study, the biologists used a database of over 300 species of dragonflies and they cross-referenced the data relating to the pigmentation of the wings of over 3.000 specimens with data relating to the climate and the environment. The differences that have emerged between dragonflies living in cooler climates or in warmer climates are enormous - a sign of the different evolutionary responses of the various species to the environment in which they live.
Considering that our planet will continue to warm up more and more in the coming years, the results collected suggest a progressive disappearance of the pigmentation of the dragonfly males' wings in response to the climate crisis - he explains. Moore. - But the adaptation of the species does not work in the same way for the two sexes: unlike the males, in fact, the females are not changing the color of their wings following the climatic crisis. We have not yet understood why males and females of the same species are so different from each other, but this clearly demonstrates that we cannot predict with certainty the changes of a species trying to adapt to the current climate change.
Fonte: Washington University of St. Louis
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