Arthropoda from Ailaoshan
The rainforest of south-western China is a biodiversity hotspot, with high levels of endemism; it is also an area that is subject to extensive human impact. This area is predicted to be impacted by climate change, resulting in increased average temperature and precipitation and more frequent extreme weather events. In order to understand the impacts of future climate change on the biodiversity of this region, we first need to establish baseline information on the current distributions of taxa. Altitudinal gradients are an ideal study system with steep shifts in environmental variables in a small geographical area. Using mountain systems as surrogates for changes in temperature and precipitation, we are able to examine the current distribution patterns of taxa, and make predictions about future shifts, based on each species' current climate envelope. Little attention, in general, has been paid to invertebrates in conservation assessments of the impacts of climate change, yet terrestrial arthropods are, on the one hand, key drivers of ecological processes and, on the other, excellent predictors of environmental change. Understanding how arthropod assemblages respond to climate (and the associated vegetation assemblages) is key in understanding likely future changes to diversity and distribution of arthropods. We established a set of three permanent altitudinal transects in Yunnan province, China (tropical, sub-tropical and temperate forest). Here we present the results of the first transect, in subtropical rainforest at Ailaoshan.