Isopods and climate change

Climate is a key factor in isopod distribution and survival but it is not clear how predicted climate change will affect isopod distribution. There is evidence that mixed effects are to be expected, depending on the region under study. We still lack robust and extensive analyses of isopod distributions at different scales and in different biomes that might help evaluate future trends. Most scenarios predict increased drought in Mediterranean regions, which are assumed to become even more arid than today. Since the highest known species richness of isopods is found in this region, it is probable that a significant part of isopod diversity will be negatively affected. On the other hand, higher latitudes and altitudes may experience an increase in isopod diversity, if species will be able to expand their distribution ranges following increasing annual temperatures. An important process that has led to an increased isopod diversity in some regions of the world (e.g., North America, Britain) is human introduction of alien species. Isopods do not usually show pronounced interspecific competition, so introduction of alien isopod species is not expected to have major negative effects on native species, and that the net effect may be an increase in species richness. Nevertheless, there are some cases where introduced species may have led to exclusion of natives - such effects might be seen also in isolated tropical islands and human-made ‘tropical houses’ after the introduction of pantropical species, but also in temperate regions where several species have been introduced mainly of European origin. Climate change may also alter vegetation that can lead to changes in litter quality, which in turn may also influence detritivore species like isopods, but the processes involved are very complicated, so we cannot make safe predictions at the current state of knowledge.


Isopod distribution and climate change. Zookeys 03 December 2018. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.801.23533