Documenting Changes in Moth Life Cycles and Abundance

Documenting Changes in Moth Life. Cycles and Abundance Caused by Urban Warming and Pollution Trung Quach, Yen Duong, Vy Tran

What is Discover. Life? • 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.

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 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

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

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

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)

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 2014 01 102 2014 02 TOTALS 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 10 2013 12 479 178 31 8 18 2014 01 309 130 35 92 29 2014 02 441 251 2, 346 599 9 290 TOTALS 35, 717 24, 810 20 463

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.

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

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

Atlanta most common Hypena Scabra Fissicrambus mutabilis Blastobasis glandulella Dolichomia olinalis Udea rubigalis Clepsis peritana Microcrambus elegans Galgula partita Melanolophia signataria Costaconvexa centrostrigaria Acleris semipurpurana Glyphidocera juniperella Idia aemula Archips argyrospila Eupithecia miserulata Parapediasia teterrella Diatraea lisetta Phigalia denticulata Pleuroprucha insulsaria Atteva aurea Celypha cespitana Herpetogramma aeglealis Platynota idaeusalis Marimatha nigrofimbria Palthis asopialis Argyrotaenia velutinana Tetanolita floridana Epimecis hortaria Scoparia basalis Athens ratio (moth pics/phone) 0. 5682 0. 0580 0. 1599 0. 8785 0. 2564 0. 0897 1. 0452 0. 1734 1. 2746 0. 3920 0. 0695 0. 2179 0. 1883 0. 0472 0. 9838 0. 0951 0. 1417 2. 5297 0. 1761 0. 2314 0. 0013 0. 0108 0. 1066 0. 5938 0. 2024 0. 0533 0. 0472 0. 4453 0. 2922 Atlanta ratio (moth pics/ phone) 0. 1682 0. 1521 0. 1313 0. 1152 0. 0829 0. 0806 0. 0760 0. 0714 0. 0691 0. 0668 0. 0622 0. 0599 0. 0507 0. 0484 0. 0461 0. 0438 0. 0415 0. 0392 0. 0369 0. 0346

Athens most common Phigalia denticulata Hypoprepia fucosa Hypagyrtis unipunctata Melanolophia signataria Cissusa spadix Microcrambus elegans Eupithecia miserulata Phigalia strigataria Dolichomia olinalis Sciota uvinella Ectropis crepuscularia Phoberia atomaris Iridopsis defectaria Clemensia albata Alsophila pometaria Marimatha nigrofimbria Spilosoma congrua Lochmaeus bilineata Hypena scabra Idia rotundalis Acrolophus popeanella Eutrapela clemataria Nadata gibbosa Epimecis hortaria Glenoides texanaria Baileya ophthalmica Costaconvexa centrostrigaria Nigetia formosalis Cisthene packardii Athens ratio (moth pics/phone) 2. 5223 1. 8414 1. 5263 1. 2746 1. 1417 1. 0452 0. 9838 0. 9791 0. 8785 0. 8117 0. 7807 0. 6991 0. 6862 0. 6660 0. 6302 0. 5938 0. 5837 0. 5735 0. 5682 0. 4912 0. 4879 0. 4845 0. 4730 0. 4453 0. 4150 0. 3947 0. 3920 0. 3806 0. 3752 Atlanta ratio (moth pics/phone) 0. 0461 0. 0000 0. 0092 0. 0207 0. 0023 0. 0760 0. 0507 0. 0000 0. 1152 0. 0000 0. 0069 0. 0000 0. 0276 0. 0392 0. 0000 0. 1682 0. 0000 0. 0230 0. 0138 0. 0023 0. 0346 0. 0000 0. 1152 0. 0000

Clarke County Lichen moths Blue Heron Hypoprepia fucosa miniata Atlanta Sandy Creek 2, 729 19 263 27 0 0 987 101 0 Cisthene packardii plumbea 556 407 11 3 0 0 Crambidia uniformis + pallida 865 15 0 Totals lichen moths 5, 563 420 0 all moths 96, 630 7, 005 1, 932 5. 8% 6. 0% 0. 0% Clemensia albata

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. Atlanta’s air pollution may reduce the lichen’s population. • April, May, and June will be incredibly important months for the project!

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.