--- title: What 1,500 Bug Species Tell Us About Climate Change description: New research looks at how climate change affected more than 250,000 insects collected from a single rooftop in Denmark over 18 years canonical: https://time.com/4096623/insects-climate-change/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-02T19:49:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:36.233Z article:section: Science og:title: What 1,500 Bug Species Tell Us About Climate Change og:description: Biodiversity plays an important role in climate change og:url: https://time.com/4096623/insects-climate-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80c8d7f2dad21c2c/69886f34e20a870b84a8e00a/acorn-weevil.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5208 og:image:height: 2930 og:image:alt: acorn weevil og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What 1,500 Bug Species Tell Us About Climate Change twitter:description: Biodiversity plays an important role in climate change twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80c8d7f2dad21c2c/69886f34e20a870b84a8e00a/acorn-weevil.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What 1,500 Bug Species on a Rooftop Tell Us About Climate Change > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Know Right Now: Who's Actually Killing Zimbabwe's Wildlife? [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: Who's Actually Killing Zimbabwe's Wildlife?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FkRHU6Xe.m3u8) (1:05)  _Published 2015-07-29. Disasterous land reforms, the destruction of property rights and widespread poverty have contributed to the steep decline in Zimbabwe's wildlife._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 2, 2015 7:49 PM UTC  Acorn weevil balaninus nucum egg laying in acorn Acorn weevil balaninus nucum egg laying in acorn Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 2, 2015 7:49 PM UTC Scientists often point to the large-scale effects of climate change as evidence of the phenomenon. Antartica is [melting](http://time.com/3872724/antarctica-ice-shelf-melting-ocean-rise/), cities are [flooding](http://time.com/4061371/south-carolina-flooding-climate-change/) and temperatures in some parts of the world [may top 170ºF](http://time.com/4087092/climate-change-heat-wave/), climate scientists say. But a look at seemingly subtle changes in the world around us can be just as illuminating. New [research](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12452/abstract), published in the _Journal of Animal Ecology_, shows how climate change has affected more than 1,500 insect species collected from a single rooftop in Denmark over 18 years. As temperatures warmed, insects with an affinity for warm climates became more prevalent on the rooftop while some insect species with an affinity for cold climates disappeared, fleeing northward. “The results confirm that climate change is impacting biodiversity right now,” said study author Peter Søgaard Jørgensen, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen. “It is not something that will happen far into the future or only if we reach a two degree temperature increase.” **Read More**: [Why Restoring Nature Could Be the Key to Fighting Climate Change](http://time.com/4070683/nature-climate-change/) The study began as a hobby for two staffers at Denmark’s Natural History Museum. The pair collected and identified insects from the museum’s rooftop every week from 1992 to 2009\. A look at the more than 250,000 individual moths and beetles collected in that time shows a decline in species diversity. For instance, the nut weevil, which survives in colder temperatures, was only found on the rooftop during the first half of the study. The acorn weevil, which typically lives in warmer ones, was not found among the initial samples and appeared later. Researchers attributed the change in overall species composition primarily to insects known as specialists that can only consume limited types of food. The study did not attribute any change in the number of more adaptive species to climate change. Biodiversity and nature more broadly play an important role in [moderating climate change](http://time.com/4070683/nature-climate-change/), in addition to demonstrating the phenomenon’s effects. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4096623/insects-climate-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4096623/insects-climate-change/"},"headline":"What 1,500 Bug Species on a Rooftop Tell Us About Climate Change","datePublished":"2015-11-02T19:49:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:06:36.233Z","description":"Biodiversity plays an important role in climate change","url":"https://time.com/4096623/insects-climate-change/","keywords":["climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80c8d7f2dad21c2c/69886f34e20a870b84a8e00a/acorn-weevil.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80c8d7f2dad21c2c/69886f34e20a870b84a8e00a/acorn-weevil.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"acorn weevil","caption":"acorn weevil","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4096623/insects-climate-change/","name":"What 1,500 Bug Species on a Rooftop Tell Us About Climate Change"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Who's Actually Killing Zimbabwe's Wildlife?","description":"Disasterous land reforms, the destruction of property rights and widespread poverty have contributed to the steep decline in Zimbabwe's wildlife.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FkRHU6Xe/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-29T08:27:28.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FkRHU6Xe.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4096623/insects-climate-change/","duration":"PT1M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4096623/insects-climate-change/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```