Summit extinctions: Climate change impacts on Teide’s arthropod biodiversity (CUMBRE_EXTINCT)
Arthropods are the highest abundant organisms in most ecosystems, playing an evident ecological and economic role, especially as measures of ecosystem health and condition. Rising global temperatures due to climate change are causing significant biodiversity loss worldwide, including a decline in arthropod populations, which impacts food webs and ecosystem functionality.
The CUMBRE_EXTINCT project provides a singular opportunity to study climate change effects on arthropod biodiversity and abundance in fragile ecosystems, such as Teide National Park, by comparing current data with records from 25 years ago. One of the main challenges in studying global biodiversity loss is the limited availability of databases that enable us to compare local patterns and changes over time. To address this, CUMBRE_EXTINCT will use a multidisciplinary strategy. This includes field sampling, arthropod species identification, contributions to entomological collections (DZUL), international databases (GBIF), and the Canary Islands public biodiversity database (BIOTA). Furthermore, the project will generate unique genetic markers for specific arthropod groups (DNA barcodes). This will allow us to create a genetic reference library for Teide National Park, making it simpler to track changes in biodiversity and implement effective conservation measures.
In summary, this project will allow us to compare patterns in arthropod biodiversity in Teide National Park over the past 25 years, revealing possible changes in abundance, species diversity, and community structure due to climate-related temperature increases. The findings will contribute to conservation management strategies, assisting professionals and policymakers. Additionally, having a diverse international team that consists of researchers and biodiversity managers from the Canary Islands will enhance the link between basic research and conservation efforts.
Period: 2023-2025
Funding: Fundación CajaCanarias.
PI: Nuria Macías & Carlos Ruiz.
