Documenting Changes in Moth Life-Cycles and Abundance Caused by Urban Warming and Pollution

1
Documenting Changes in Moth Life-Cycles and
Abundance Caused by Urban Warming and Pollution

• Trung Quach, Yen Duong, Vy Tran

2
What is DiscoverLife?

• Ecology research project run by Dr. John
  Pickering, University of Georgia.
• Provides tools for documenting (photographs) and
  identifying (interactive guides) insects.
• Uses a network of sites to model the potential
  impacts of climate change and actual impacts of
  pollution.

3
Where and Why?

• Atlanta and Athens have the same basic climate
  and habitats.
• Atlanta has more pollution.
• Atlanta is (artificially) warmer at night.

2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities 2010 Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities
City Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Athens 51/33 56/35 65/42 73/49 80/58 87/65 90/69 88/68 82/63 73/51 63/42 54/35
Atlanta 52/34 57/36 65/44 73/50 80/60 86/67 89/71 88/70 82/64 73/53 63/44 55/36
4
Heat Islands Model Global Warming

• Major cities have artificially hotter night-time
  temperatures. (Pavement holds heat longer.)
• Changes in biodiversity in these Heat Islands can
  predict future changes in biodiversity for the
  whole region due to global warming.
• Natural Experiment

5
What are we comparing?

• Total number of species and number of each
  species seen
• Representation of major categories, such as
  Lichen Moths
• Lichen moths feed off of lichens as
• caterpillars.
• Lichens are sensitive to pollution.

• Lichen Moth

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Overall Moth Data

• Preliminary data available to compare Atlanta to
  Athens.
• Table 1 2 shows the quality of the data. Pay
  attention to the following
• Number of total photos taken (including moth,
  light source, phone pictures)
• Number of moths that are identified to the
  species level
• Number of Phone pictures (nights of effort)

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Quality of Data
Atlanta
Athens
Year Month photos identified to species Phone
2013 01 66 15 19
2013 02 106 6 23
2013 03 179 54 31
2013 04 159 53 24
2013 05 264 114 28
2013 06 203 56 21
2013 07 121 46 15
2013 08 212 81 18
2013 09 207 68 22
2013 10 435 62 38
2013 11 121 3 14
2013 12 79 4 10
2014 01 102 8 18
2014 02 92 29 9
TOTALS 2,346 599 290
Year Month photos identified to species Phone
2013 01 1,839 1,564 31
2013 02 891 693 28
2013 03 1,559 1,161 34
2013 04 3,545 2,563 41
2013 05 5,391 3,705 33
2013 06 4,727 3,419 39
2013 07 4,615 3,103 35
2013 08 5,053 3,920 37
2013 09 4,002 2,888 38
2013 10 1,902 963 31
2013 11 964 272 30
2013 12 479 178 31
2014 01 309 130 35
2014 02 441 251 20
TOTALS 35,717 24,810 463
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Species Data

• Atlanta has a lower abundance of moths.
• - Additionally, the species seen in Atlanta
  should be among the common moths of Athens.
• Table 2 shows the 30 most common species in both
  Athens and Atlanta.

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Top 30 Species Athens vs. Atlanta
Athens most common moths Number of photos (Athens) Number of photos (Atlanta) Ranking in Athens Ranking in Atlanta
Phigalia denticulata 3,738 20 1 18
Hypoprepia fucosa 2,729 0 2 999
Hypagyrtis unipunctata 2,262 4 3 83
Melanolophia signataria 1,889 9 4 31
Cissusa spadix 1,692 1 5 175
Microcrambus elegans 1,549 33 6 7
Eupithecia miserulata 1,458 22 7 15
Phigalia strigataria 1,451 0 8 999
Dolichomia olinalis 1,302 50 9 4
Sciota uvinella 1,203 0 10 999
Ectropis crepuscularia 1,157 0 11 999
Phoberia atomaris 1,036 0 12 999
Iridopsis defectaria 1,017 3 13 100
Clemensia albata 987 0 14 999
Alsophila pometaria 934 12 15 33
Marimatha nigrofimbria 880 17 16 24
Spilosoma congrua 865 0 17 999
Lochmaeus bilineata 850 0  18 999
Hypena scabra 842 73 19 1
Idia rotundalis 728 0 20 999
Acrolophus popeanella 723 10 21 39
Eutrapela clemataria 718 6 22 60
Nadata gibbosa 701 1 23 211
Epimecis hortaria 660 15 24 28
Glenoides texanaria 615 0 25 999
Baileya ophthalmica 585 0 26 999
Costaconvexa centrostrigaria 581 50 27 9
Nigetia formosalis 564 0 28 999
Cisthene packardii 556 0 29 999
Paleacrita vernata 532 0 30 999
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Top 30 Species Atlanta vs. Athens
Atlanta most common moths Number of photos (Atlanta) Number of photos (Athens) Ranking in Atlanta Ranking in Athens
Hypena scabra 73 842 1 19
Fissicrambus mutabilis 66 86 2 222
Blastobasis glandulella 57 237 3 89
Dolichomia olinalis 50 1,302 4 9
Udea rubigalis 36 380 5 48
Clepsis peritana 35 133 6 143
Microcrambus elegans 33 1,549 7 6
Galgula partita 31 257 8 81
Melanolophia signataria 31 1,889 9 4
Costaconvexa centrostrigaria 30 581 10 27
Acleris semipurpurana 29 103 11 184
Glyphidocera juniperella 27 323 12 59
Idia aemula 26 279 13 74
Archips argyrospila 22 70 14 258
Eupithecia miserulata 22 1,458 15 7
Parapediasia teterrella 21 141 16 134
Diatraea lisetta 20 210 17 99
Phigalia denticulata 20 3749 18 1
Pleuroprucha insulsaria 20 261 19 78
Atteva aurea 19 343 20 55
Celypha cespitana 19 2 21 997
Herpetogramma aeglealis 18 16 22 575
Platynota idaeusalis 18 158 23 118
Marimatha nigrofimbria 17 880 24 16
Palthis asopialis 17 300 25 65
Argyrotaenia velutinana 16 79 26 233
Tetanolita floridana 16 70 27 259
Epimecis hortaria 15 660 28 24
Scoparia basalis 15 433 29 40
Tetanolita mynesalis 15 102 30 186
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Atlanta most common Athens ratio (moth pics/phone) Atlanta ratio (moth pics/ phone)
Hypena Scabra 0.5682 0.1682
Fissicrambus mutabilis 0.0580 0.1521
Blastobasis glandulella 0.1599 0.1313
Dolichomia olinalis 0.8785 0.1152
Udea rubigalis 0.2564 0.0829
Clepsis peritana 0.0897 0.0806
Microcrambus elegans 1.0452 0.0760
Galgula partita 0.1734 0.0714
Melanolophia signataria 1.2746 0.0714
Costaconvexa centrostrigaria 0.3920 0.0691
Acleris semipurpurana 0.0695 0.0668
Glyphidocera juniperella 0.2179 0.0622
Idia aemula 0.1883 0.0599
Archips argyrospila 0.0472 0.0507
Eupithecia miserulata 0.9838 0.0507
Parapediasia teterrella 0.0951 0.0484
Diatraea lisetta 0.1417 0.0461
Phigalia denticulata 2.5297 0.0461
Pleuroprucha insulsaria 0.1761 0.0461
Atteva aurea 0.2314 0.0438
Celypha cespitana 0.0013 0.0438
Herpetogramma aeglealis 0.0108 0.0415
Platynota idaeusalis 0.1066 0.0415
Marimatha nigrofimbria 0.5938 0.0392
Palthis asopialis 0.2024 0.0392
Argyrotaenia velutinana 0.0533 0.0369
Tetanolita floridana 0.0472 0.0369
Epimecis hortaria 0.4453 0.0346
Scoparia basalis 0.2922 0.0346
Tetanolita mynesalis 0.0688 0.0346
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Athens most common Athens ratio (moth pics/phone) Atlanta ratio (moth pics/phone)
Phigalia denticulata 2.5223 0.0461
Hypoprepia fucosa 1.8414 0.0000
Hypagyrtis unipunctata 1.5263 0.0092
Melanolophia signataria 1.2746 0.0207
Cissusa spadix 1.1417 0.0023
Microcrambus elegans 1.0452 0.0760
Eupithecia miserulata 0.9838 0.0507
Phigalia strigataria 0.9791 0.0000
Dolichomia olinalis 0.8785 0.1152
Sciota uvinella 0.8117 0.0000
Ectropis crepuscularia 0.7807 0.0000
Phoberia atomaris 0.6991 0.0000
Iridopsis defectaria 0.6862 0.0069
Clemensia albata 0.6660 0.0000
Alsophila pometaria 0.6302 0.0276
Marimatha nigrofimbria 0.5938 0.0392
Spilosoma congrua 0.5837 0.0000
Lochmaeus bilineata 0.5735 0.0000
Hypena scabra 0.5682 0.1682
Idia rotundalis 0.4912 0.0000
Acrolophus popeanella 0.4879 0.0230
Eutrapela clemataria 0.4845 0.0138
Nadata gibbosa 0.4730 0.0023
Epimecis hortaria 0.4453 0.0346
Glenoides texanaria 0.4150 0.0000
Baileya ophthalmica 0.3947 0.0000
Costaconvexa centrostrigaria 0.3920 0.1152
Nigetia formosalis 0.3806 0.0000
Cisthene packardii 0.3752 0.0000
Paleacrita vernata 0.3590 0.0000
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Clarke County Clarke County Atlanta
BlueHeron Sandy Creek Atlanta
Hypoprepia fucosa miniata 2,729 19 263 27 0 0
Clemensia albata 987 101 0
Cisthene packardii plumbea 556407 11 3 0 0
Crambidia uniformis pallida 865 15 0
Totals lichen moths 5,563 420 0
Totals all moths 96,630 7,005 1,932
5.8 6.0 0.0
Lichen moths
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Conclusions

• Atlanta has a lower abundance of moths and of
  species even with equal effort. (phone pictures)
• Comparing Athens to Atlanta, many species match
  each other in top 30. However, the ratio of top 1
  Moths and photos in Atlanta is even lower than
  the ratio of top 30 of Athens.
• Atlanta does not have any lichen moths, while 6
  of Athens moths are lichen ones. Atlantas air
  pollution may reduce the lichens population.
• April, May, and June will be incredibly important
  months for the project!

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Acknowledgments

• Dr. John Pickering and Ms. Nancy Lowe (UGA)
• - Ms. Victoria Staples and Mr. Cameron Prybol
• Dr. Jonathan Lochamy and Dr. Ilse Rickets (GPC)
• Additional Interns not present Priscilla Adodo,
  Dienabou Diawara, Tshibambe Tshimbombu, Ndasi
  Hepi, Folashade Maxwell, Yitbarek Kazentet,
  Mwoddah Habib, Imien Adodo, Hanna Nune, Fatima
  Yadudu, Quan Bui, Khoa Nguyen, Kristen
  Farley, and Jabrel Hersi.
• Funding provided by STEM II Minigrant

Interns from prior year.