Climate change can change the sex ratio of some species, and acorn weevils, about insects of the family of beetles, according to a study published by the Royal Society journal Science Open.
The late rains late summer could change the balance between males and females of these Mediterranean weevils in favor of females , after finding that males are more susceptible to long droughts, the study, which was attended by the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF-UAB).
The report’s authors explained after the summer drought weevils need rains moisten and soften the soil to get out of their bunkers.
As in many species of insects, weevils males of the species “elephas curculio” tend to rise to the surface before females.
Few showers
the years of summer droughts prolonged males may encounter difficulties because of the hardness of the ground in early dates and die without being able to leave their shelters.
However, the females, who emerge later, they do not suffer from the delayed rains, and therefore are proportionally more abundant when the rain takes to get , according to the study.
“The changes in the climate are affecting the animals in many ways, changing its distribution in the territory, its survivability or behavior when it comes to reproduce, “ said the research associate CREAF Raul Bonal.
“There are other effects, perhaps less obvious but very important for a species to be viable and is maintained in the future; effect on the sex ratio would be one of them . “
Although we know that global warming is affecting sex determination in the embryos of reptiles,” now show for the first time episodes of summer extreme drought, accentuated in the Mediterranean area due to climate change, might cause a bias in the sex ratio of these insects “, stressed Josep Maria Spelt, researcher CREAF.
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