25 Years of Variability in the Biology of Salix-feeding Beetles and Associated Insects Along a Sierra Nevada Elevation Gradient, California: Are There Long-term Trends?

We have been studying the ecology, evolution and physiology of the willow leaf beetle, Chrysomela aeneicollis, in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, since the early 1980's. One principal focus of this long-term study has been analysis of elevation gradient effects to the food web which includes willows (Salix ssp.), C. aeneicollis, and several predators including the hover fly Parasyphus melanderi and the hole-nesting wasp Symmorphus cristatus. We have observed and documented asymmetries along the elevation gradient. At upper elevations, populations confront higher frequencies of lethally cold nighttime temperatures and intensity of storms. When individuals are transplanted among elevations, upper elevation populations grow faster and survive better at upper elevation sites than populations from lower elevations. Our observations suggest that dispersal is sufficiently restricted among elevations to allow genetic differences in ability to respond to stressful climate to emerge. Lower elevation populations are subject to a wider range of predatory insect species, and predation plays a relatively larger role in their reproductive success. We have documented upward shifts in range for some populations of about 300 meters over the 25-year period of the study, although other populations do not show such shifts. We are preparing to document further range shifts along the elevation gradients by monitoring habitats which are currently at or above the upper range limits of the plants, beetles and predators, and looking for recruitment of new populations at those sites.