Climate vulnerability of five ground beetle species (Coleoptera: Carabidae) within the National Ecological Observatory Network’s (NEON) Southeast Domain (Domain 03)

Climate change vulnerability analyses (CVA) combine information on species’ life histories with projected climate change impacts to assess individual species’ vulnerability. This analysis synthesized NEON data with technical input from species experts. Experts utilized species’ life history, scientific literature, and NEON data to provide a score for each carabid species’ sensitivity to selected life history and climate change parameters (e.g. dispersal ability, hydrological niche, diet, etc.). Each species was scored by expert entomologists individually to reduce bias and increase confidence in the analysis. Individual species were ranked (low, moderate, high, or very high) for each parameter. After scoring, results were combined into a final vulnerability rank for each species. This was done by calculating a sensitivity mean and assigning an overall climate vulnerability rank. The results of this work will provide prospective on which carabid species within NEON Domain 03 may be the most at risk to climate change based impacts. Future NEON sampling efforts will provide further insight into the accuracy of this analysis.