Global changes are affecting biodiversity on unprecedented rate and scale with some forecasts suggesting that half of all species could go extinct by 2050. Yet it remains unclear if we can reliably predict the impact of global changes on biodiversity because we lack sufficient understanding of the potential of species to adapt to new environmental conditions. Several studies on vertebrates and plants have stressed the need to incorporate evolutionary history into our accounts of species responses to environmental changes but all these studies ignored the vast majority of Earth’s biodiversity, among which, insects.

We will study two sister families of phytophagous insects – Saturniidae and Sphingidae (silk and hawk moths) - that represent an unparalleled insect model for the study of diversification and the prediction of the adaptive potential of insect species facing global changes. This group is unique among insects in being thoroughly documented worldwide and offers an unprecedented opportunity to consider diversity and distribution patterns, as well as macroevolutionary processes, on a global scale, for all species. Our project proposes: (1) to build a comprehensive species-level phylogeny for the ~4500 species of moths and conduct the first diversification analysis at a global scale in insects, taking into account the role of biotic (e.g. dispersal capacity, host plant range) and abiotic factors (e.g. climate and geological changes); (2) to analyse the evolutionary dynamics of ecological niches and extend existing macroevolutionary models combining phylogenetic, biogeographical, ecological and paleogeological/climatic information; and (3) to test experimentally the ability of these models to predict species responses to environmental changes by analysing wild communities of these moths in pristine and human-impacted habitats on three different continents.

Leader : Rodolphe Rougerie (MNHN, Paris, France).

People Involved : A. Cruaud, J.-Y Rasplus, S. Nidelet, P. Arnal (PhD).

Partners : MNHN/CNRS ISEB Paris, CNRS ISEM and CEFE Montpellier, INRA URZF Orléans, CNRS LECA Grenoble, CNRS EDB Toulouse.

Project founded by our National Research Agency (ANR)

more about the project

​

Our contribution to the project : We are involved in many WP. Notably, we are in charge of producing a robust, representative and dated phylogenetic hypothesis for the two families, which is one of the starting point of the project (see Pierre's PhD subject to get more details)