Biota

We now consider insect populations, circumpolar mammal populations, seaweed density, agricultural yields, and similar topics. Good reasons exist to link such biological phenomena to solar activity. For one thing, if such meteorological parameters as temperature and precipitation vary with solar activity, life forms sensitive to small changes in these parameters may show dramatic responses. We will examine various claims from the 100 to 200 articles that either provide support for or criticize these types of ideas. The topics generally start at the lower levels of the food chain (i.e., insects) and proceed to the upper levels (i.e., predatory mammals), concluding with agricultural and economic studies. Insect populations are sensitive climate indicators. Paleontologists have used fossilized insects (see, for example, Coope, 1977) to show that very rapid changes in climate can occur in only a few years. Certain species of insects can tolerate only narrow ranges of temperature or precipitation. If meteorological variables alter that range, a new species of insect will replace the old. Insects occupy one of the lower rungs of the food chain, so fluctuations in their numbers may cause corresponding fluctuations in such predators as birds or spiders. Therefore, correlating insect populations with solar activity is a worthwhile venture. In his doctoral treatise, “Über die Beziehungen der Sonnenfleckenperiode zu meteorologischen Erscheinungen” published in 1877, F. G. Hahn argues that locusts will probably appear in temperate regions only during unusually hot and dry years. Hahn shows that European locusts appear preferentially between the years of sunspot minimums up to the next sunspot maximum, an average of about 4 years. For the 7 years from the sunspot maximum to the next sunspot minimum, locusts are scarcer. Since sunspot minimums produced relatively warm temperatures for the years 1800–1862, this suggests that the sun influences European locust populations. E. D. Archibald, who in his later years was a very ardent advocate of sun/climate relationships, extended Hahn’s findings. In a letter to Nature in 1878, Archibald showed that locusts appeared in Europe in 1613, 1690, and 1748–1749. According to Wolf, these dates occur 1 to 3 years after a sunspot minimum, which is consistent with Hahn’s findings.