ArticleNature communications2023
Seasonal variation in dragonfly assemblage colouration suggests a link between thermal melanism and phenology.
Article in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Flight of the dragons: a global review of migration in Odonata.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Seasonal climatic variability shapes immune responses and infection risks in the common bluetail damselfly.Oecologia · 2026Article
- Article
- Global hotspots of butterfly diversity are threatened in a warming world.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- A straightforward protocol to sample morphological traits of dragonflies and damselflies in the field.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
Phenology, the seasonal timing of life events, is an essential component of diversity patterns. However, the mechanisms involved are complex and understudied. Body colour may be an important factor, because dark-bodied species absorb more solar radiation, which is predicted by the Thermal Melanism Hypothesis to enable them to thermoregulate successfully in cooler temperatures. Here we show that colour lightness of dragonfly assemblages varies in response to seasonal changes in solar radiation, with darker early- and late-season assemblages and lighter mid-season assemblages. This finding suggests a link between colour-based thermoregulation and insect phenology. We also show that the phenological pattern of dragonfly colour lightness advanced over the last decades. We suggest that changing seasonal temperature patterns due to global warming together with the static nature of solar radiation may drive dragonfly flight periods to suboptimal seasonal conditions. Our findings open a research avenue for a more mechanistic understanding of phenology and spatio-phenological impacts of climate warming on insects.
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