Guidance Climate change: consequences for flora and fauna
Index section Climate change: consequences for flora and fauna
- Shift in the distribution of insects and molluscs
- The wasp spider and climate change
- Oak processionary moth and climate change
- Lichens and climate change
- Small hermit crab and sea squirt
- Fish and climate change
- Blue tit: climate change and breeding behaviour
- Pied flycatcher: climate change and breeding behaviour
- Migrants to Africa and climate change
Introduction
The Netherlands is becoming warmer as a result of climate change, and because of this various plant and animal species are invading the country from warmer, more southerly areas. Most of the new arrivals in the last century are from the south; few species have arrived from the north.
In various species groups there are good examples of southern species that are increasing: the wasp spider, the oak processionary moth, the crimped gill fungus, and various lichen species. Marine species from further south are also more frequent in Dutch coastal waters, such as the small hermit crab, the sea squirt Didemnum lahillei, the scaldfish and the lesser weever fish.
As well as changes in species distribution, there has also been a shift in the growing and flowering seasons for plants and in the breeding season for birds. This could impact on numbers of breeding birds, especially in the species that overwinter in Africa, such as the pied flycatcher.
Not all of the increases in southern species are attributable to climate change. Some of the newcomers prefer towns and industrial areas because these built-up habitats have a warmer climate than the surrounding countryside.
