Rebecca Lovell
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rebeccalovell.bsky.social
Rebecca Lovell
@rebeccalovell.bsky.social
130 followers 160 following 9 posts
Quantitative evolutionary ecologist 👩‍💻🐦🦋🌿 Currently a Postdoc at the University of Aberdeen (she/her)
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rebeccalovell.bsky.social
We found that the level of equivalence between spatial and temporal temperature-distribution relationships varies across different temperatures within the species’ range 🌡️, with patterns differing between occupancy vs abundance 🦋
Figure depicting spatial and temporal temperature-abundance and temperature-occuancy relationships for the orange tip butterfly in the UK, and the difference between these spatial and temporal slopes across the orange tip's range. Temperature generally has a positive effect on abundance and probability of presence in both space and time. Spatial and temporal temperature-occuapncy slopes are significantly different below 19.7°C, with the slope in time shallower than the slope in space. The slopes do not differ above 19.7°C, where both spatial and temporal slopes flatten. Temperature-abundance slopes do not differ at lower temperatures, but do differ above 16.4°C, where the temporal slope becomes increasingly shallower than the spatial slope.
February 28, 2025 at 4:20 PM
rebeccalovell.bsky.social
Using @ukbms.bsky.social records of the Orange-tip butterfly’s abundance in the UK, we first apply a sliding window approach to identify when in the year temperature is most predictive of abundance🌡️🦋…
Figure depicting the orange tip butterfly's lifecycle and the AICs of models including different temperature windows as predictors of orange tip abundance. A seasonal pattern in AICs is depicted, with models including temperatures in May-July of the previous year having the lowest AICs. This corresponds to a period where the Orange-tip adults, eggs and larvae are all present.
February 28, 2025 at 4:20 PM
rebeccalovell.bsky.social
Projecting species’ future distributions often involves ‘space-for-time substitutions’ where relationships between climate variables & species’ distributions are identified in space & then projected over time 🌍→⏰

This assumes that these relationships are causal & equivalent in space and time 🌍=⏰?
Conceptual figure depicting possible patterns of spatial and temporal climate-distribution relationships that may be seen across a species' range. Spatial relationships are hump-shaped, with temporal relationships as local deviations from this curve. In some instances, spatial and temporal slopes are similar, meaning that a space-for-time substitution would be valid. In other instances, these slopes are in the same direction, but the response in time is shallower, consistant with a lagging response in time. Here, space-for-time substitution may be valid in the long-term. In some cases, the response in time is flat, or the spatial and temporal slopes are in opposite directions, suggesting that the climate variable is not having a causal effect. The level of similarity between spatial and temporal slopes may vary across a species' climate range.
February 28, 2025 at 4:20 PM
rebeccalovell.bsky.social
Very excited to say that earlier this month I passed my PhD viva! 🦋👩‍💻

Thanks to @lancasterlt.bsky.social and Jarrod Hadfield for a really interesting discussion, and of course to @allyphillimore.bsky.social for being the most wonderful supervisor! #PhDone
Me with my viva cake. The cake has an Orange-tip butterfly and the words "Dr Becca" on it. A printed copy of my thesis titled "Climate impacts on species’ distributions in space and time"
February 25, 2025 at 4:30 PM
rebeccalovell.bsky.social
Another awesome talk from the group from Alex Reiss 🐝 #BES2024
Alex Reiss giving a talk titled 'Repeated host shifting in the global radiation of gallwasps'
December 12, 2024 at 10:28 AM
rebeccalovell.bsky.social
Fantastic talks from my lab mates @ilarialonero.bsky.social and Megan Stamp 🐦🐛 #BES2024
Ilaria Lonero giving a talk on 'Incubation thermal niche and niche tracking in temperate passerine' Megan Stamp giving a talk on the drivers of caterpillar community composition, in front of a slide introducing the Phenoweb transect.
December 11, 2024 at 12:34 PM