On July 18, 2016, Dr. Dan Marshaleck gave an overview of his and Dr. Doug Deutschman’s research out of San Diego State University on pollinators and decomposers, observing how habitat and landscape composition affects these species, and analyzing possible impacts climate change can have on their communities. Dr. Marshaleck stressed that pollinators serve many important ecosystem services, and without them our lives would change dramatically; however, little conservation efforts are enforced for insects which make up over 50 percent of the animal population. He mentioned that insects can react quickly to change, and how they react to climate change will be no different. Scientists are already starting to see some changes such as: insect habits and distribution like increased northern migration; phenological changes for example earlier larval development due to warmer temperatures and differences in co-evolution species; and changes population density due to variable precipitations patterns.
