Mediterranean moth diversity is sensitive to increasing temperatures and drought under climate change.

Climate change affects ecosystems worldwide and is threatening biodiversity. Insects, as ectotherm organisms, are strongly dependent on the thermal environment. Yet, little is known about the effects of summer heat and drought on insect diversity.

From forest to fragment: compositional differences inside coastal forest moth assemblages and their environmental correlates.

Patterns of β-diversity can provide insight into forces shaping community assembly. We analyzed species-rich insect assemblages in two reserve fragments that had once been part of one contiguous Mediterranean coastal pine forest. Local environments are still similar across both fragments, but their landscape context differs strongly, with one surrounded by intense agricultural land, while the other neighbors the urbanized area of Ravenna.

Ecological Drift and Directional Community Change in an Isolated Mediterranean Forest Reserve-Larger Moth Species Under Higher Threat.

Long-term data are important to understand the changes in ecological communities over time but are quite rare for insects. We analyzed such changes using historic museum collections. For our study area, an isolated forest reserve in North-East Italy, data from the past 80 yr were available.