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Updated: Apr 14, 2026

Determining Temperature Preference of Mosquitoes and Other Ectotherms
Published on: September 28, 2022
Adult activity and temperature preference drives region-wide damselfly (Zygoptera) distributions under a warming
Jeffrey D Corser1, Erin L White2, Matthew D Schlesinger2
1New York Natural Heritage Program, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233, USA jdcorser@esf.edu.
Abstract:
We analysed a recently completed statewide odonate Atlas using multivariate linear models. Within a phylogenetically explicit framework, we developed a suite of data-derived traits to assess the mechanistic distributional drivers of 59 species of damselflies in New York State (NYS). We found that length of the flight season (adult breeding activity period) mediated by thermal preference drives regional distributions at broad (10(5) km(2)) scales. Species that had longer adult flight periods, in conjunction with longer growing seasons, had significantly wider distributions. These intrinsic traits shape species' responses to changing climates and the mechanisms behind such range shifts are fitness-based metapopulation processes that adjust phenology to the prevailing habitat and climate regime through a photoperiod filter.
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